


I'm Not the Same as I Was

by CharlemagneGryffis



Series: Imagine Dragons [3]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Adolescent Sexuality, Asexual Character, Asexual Harry Potter, Asexuality, Asgard, Bipolar Disorder, Bisexual Bucky Barnes, Bullying, Dimension Travel, F/F, Family Drama, Family Dynamics, Family Feels, Family Issues, Family Reunions, Female Loki, Gen, Greek and Roman Mythology - Freeform, Home, Horcrux Hunting, Horcruxes, Hurt Bucky Barnes, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Jötunn Loki, Lesbian Character, Loki Angst, Loki Feels, Loki Has Issues, Loki Needs a Hug, Loki-centric, Magic, Magical Artifacts, Mentions of Cancer, Percy Jackson References, Pets, Poor Loki, Reincarnation, Religion, Reunions, Sexuality Crisis, Souls, Strike Team Delta, Suburbia, Time Travel, Twins, brief reference to Kingsmen, Ásgarðr | Asgard (realm)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-04
Updated: 2017-04-04
Packaged: 2018-10-14 23:13:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 24,852
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10545960
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CharlemagneGryffis/pseuds/CharlemagneGryffis
Summary: Vali and Hela make an unholy alliance, Asgard comes into play, Frigga meets her grandchildren, Loki is procrastinating and so much can happen in six months, that at this point even I don't know.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Daisy Johnson | Eisa (Chloe Bennet)  
> Harry Potter | Vali (Daniel Radcliffe)  
> Charlie Weasley | Narfi (Kenneth Bek)  
> Fenrir (Henry Cavill/German Shepherd)  
> Hela (Phoebe Tonkin/Melissa Benoist/Malina Weissman)  
> Jormungandr (Dylan Rieder)

“Horcruxes are the bane of my existence,” Hela muttered as she watched the last piece of soul flutter away. Vali made a sound of agreement, eyes focused on the shred as it was swallowed by a portion of darkness that didn’t seem to leave any trace of magic at all. “Will you be relinquishing the Hallows to me, then?” She asked tiredly.

“I thought you didn’t want them,” Vali replied, causing Hela to blink in confusion.

“What?”

“You said you didn’t want them before, because they’ll send you right back to Niflheim.”

“Yes…” she replied, brows knitting together, “Vali, what are you thinking of doing?”

Vali shrugged, “I thought I could keep them. It’s a win-win situation – you get to stay on Midguard, with all your powers, surrounded by your family, and I get something to do now I’ve finished school.”

“And you don’t die, or age past sixteen.”

“And I don’t die,” Vali nodded satisfactorily. “Mum’ll be pleased. I wish I could grow a beard though,” he stroked his chin, which was free of all but a few hints of stubble. “I’m like Peter Pan…”

“Indeed – but it’ll be dangerous, for you at least,” Hela mused, “Souls that don’t want to leave the Plains of the Living will actually be able to hurt you.”

“I can protect myself.”

“I know,” Hela eyed him, before she smiled, “You might just be my favourite brother, do you know that?”

Vali snorted. “Liar. Fenrir is your favourite.”

Hela tilted her head, “Too true, brother mine, too true – so would you like to get started?”

“Sure, Tiger-Lily.”

“Oh, I’m _Tinkerbell_. She tries to get shit done despite the stupid boys she surrounds herself with. A frustrated little fairy, is Tinkerbell.”

Vali snorted. “I can believe that, if what Fen says about you not getting laid in over five hundred ye- ow! What was that for?”

* * *

_ Six Months Earlier _

“I don’t know what or how you’re doing it, sis, but keep doing it, ‘cause it makes no sense to me so it should actually work,” Vali stared at the code running across the computer screen. Eisa elbowed him as he leant further forwards, getting a grunt out of him before Admiral sat up, finally pushing Vali out of the way. “I feel like you’re bullying me,” he pouted, stepping to the side as Marcia prowled over, leaping up onto the futon, slipping into Eisa’s lap. “Why do they like you so much?”

“Cause I’m not jumping about like a circus-freak in my free time,” Eisa replied cheerily, before the screen flashed. “There. There’s a running loop now. We’re a-go.” She pushed Marcia off her lap, getting up and taking off her nasal cannula, pressing the button on her oxygen tank.

“Eisa-”

“I’m fine, okay? It’s only for a little bit, and if we tried to do this with it on, we’d get caught – we can’t exactly bring it into the vents. It doesn’t have wheels.”

Vali’s lips pressed together, before he nodded – and then unexpectedly picked her up, causing her to let out a yelp, before he walked them out of the room and towards the exit, transferring her to his back. Grabbing his skateboard when they reached the door, he looked into the living room to where Elizabeth sat on the sofa, phone dropped on the floor.

“She’s still asleep,” Eisa whispered, “Let’s go.” Their aunt was helping their mum look after them while she helped their dad move to America. Their house was already sold, meaning they were temporarily homeless. The pets had been magically transferred to the hotel they were staying in, while payments went through for their mum’s new house back in central Edinburgh. Luckily, it was only for a week and a half, and they were staying in a family suite in a hotel in New York, NYC, the two of them in one room, and Loki and Aunt Elizabeth in the other – Bran wasn’t with them, he was on holiday with his grandparents in Blackpool – with Elizabeth taking them out during the day. They’d already seen so much cool stuff.

Back in Britain, when they went on trips together, it had all been castles and parks and hills and monuments and forts and beaches, and more castles and forts and beaches, but in New York it was a _whole_ other story. They’d already been to see the Statue of Liberty, the Met, the Film Forum, the Empire State Building, the Twin Towers, the MoMA, Chinatown and Central Park – they were planning to go to Ellis Island tomorrow, and both were buzzing, especially with all their dad’s stories.

Right now, however, they had different priorities.

“Take a left,” Eisa instructed, prompting Vali to open the door into the stairwell. “Okay, the vent should be just down…there!” Vali nodded, putting her down carefully and putting his hands up to the corners, wandlessly opening the manhole. “You remember the directions I gave you?” Eisa questioned, causing Vali to nod, tapping his head.

“Got ‘em memorised, sis, don’t worry. Now, let’s see what mother’s doing with this lady.” They climbed into the vents, determined to find out what their mother was doing with this stranger.

…which was how, ladies and gentlemen, Vali Sigynson and Eisa Lokidottr were scarred for life.

* * *

“-call me, any time,” Robin winked, pressing a kiss to her cheek before peeling her body from Loki’s, walking off into the New York crowd. Loki hummed, tucking the paper into her inner pocket, before a voice caught her attention.

“Miss?”

Loki turned her head, finding a young girl – young, blonde, with light grey eyes so familiar…Loki turned to face her slowly, noting her dirtied clothes and full backpack, celestial bronze knife on her belt covered in a magic most strange.

“Yes?”

“Have you seen someone who looks like this?” She held out a photo. Loki took it, looking. There were four people in the grubby picture, one clearly the girl herself, in the middle surrounded by three others, two boys and one girl, the girl and the blonde of the boys at least two older than her. The girl pointed to the blonde boy. “His name is Luke. I can’t find him – we’ve been travelling together.”

Loki tried to remember if she’d seen him, even out of the corner of her eye, but came up blank. “I am sorry, young one, but I have not seen your friend.” The girl’s shoulders sagged, before she took back the photo.

“Thanks.” She went to turn away, when Loki put a hand on her shoulder.

“Wait. I may still be able to help.”

“It’s okay, lady, you don’t need to do anything-”

“You have a celestial bronze dagger, child, and while I am unfamiliar to the magic with which you hide it from those less powerful than I, the fact that you have it at all is a sign I may be able to help.” The girl’s eyes widened.

“You can see through the Mist?”

“Is that what you call it?” Loki asked quietly, before she took the photo back from her, shutting her eyes and pushing her magic towards it, latching onto the essence of the boy within the photo – pictures like these always left traces. It was why she’d never let herself be drawn or painted by any artist of Asgard, in case a sorcerer tried to harness what imprint her soul left behind. Throwing her magic out, Loki found it wasn’t hard to track the boy down, and so latched him to the photo, opening her eyes once it was done. The girl stared at the photo as it glowed with an unearthly gleam.

“W-w-what did you do?”

“The further away from him you are, the brighter it glows. The light will disappear once you are reunited with your friend.” She handed the photo back, hearing the familiar sound of Eisa’s laughter, and the rolling of Vali’s skateboard on concrete. “Go. Find him.”

“Are you a goddess? Which one?” The girl asked, firing the questions at her with a fierce, but awe-filled expression. Loki gave her a small smile, nodding before walking down the street, just as Vali and Eisa burst from the crowd, Vali expertly flipping his skateboard up as they collided with her, Eisa on his back. Loki kept them upright, hugging him tightly, kissing Eisa’s forehead. At their feet, Lucky, Darling and Admiral wagged their tails, panting happily. Loki glanced over at the girl, who watched them with barely-concealed confusion. She heard her whisper.

“ _But the Ancient Laws…_ ” Loki wondered what Pantheon the child was from, if she followed Ancient Laws – the beings that called themselves Gods had always been strict upon enforcing them.

“Are we going home soon, mummy?” Eisa questioned.

“Soon,” she promised, “The house is bought, and is currently being furnished. We will be in the new house by tomorrow evening.”

“Cool,” Vali looked over to the girl. “Who’s she?”

“A demigod, I believe, much like yourself,” Loki murmured, before letting them both go and kneeling down to the dogs, scratching and petting each of them in turn, not realising Vali’s confusion. “Where did you go today with Elizabeth? And where is said aunt?”

“Right here,” came Elizabeth’s tired voice as she finally caught up with them, “That’s it, Vali, I’m banning your skateboard while you’re with me.”

Vali made an annoyed face, “Why?”

“Because you can’t expect me to keep up with you while you’re on it – how you feeling, Eisa?” Loki glanced at her daughter, who as usual, was breathless, though her breathing rattled, making Loki’s smile fade.

Eisa shrugged, adjusting her nose cannula, “I’m okay, Aunty ‘liz’beth. Vali makes sure I’m okay.”

“That is good of your brother,” Loki spoke softly, “but it is still important that Elizabeth is aware of everything. Vali is still a child, despite his insistence that he is old enough to do whatever he wants.” She saw Eisa’s scowl, but didn’t say anything, looking back to the girl as she felt a twist of magic – but the girl was gone, the scent of Loki’s magic gone, so she couldn’t sense it any more. _I hope she finds her friend_ , she thought distantly, before using her own magic to cloak them, magically transporting the dogs to their hotel room, while also enchanting them so they fell into a deep sleep, as she’d been doing every time they had to be left in the hotel-room alone.

“So, where now?” Elizabeth asked.

“I was looking into the new movies out, actually,” Loki smiled slightly, “How does ‘Mission: Impossible’ sound?”

* * *

“I’ve been wanting to meet you for some time, you know.”

Vali’s head snapped to the other side of the compartment, the shut door alerting him to the fact that the bubbly blonde had found a way into his compartment without opening it. She was older than most students, too, a lot older, actually – maybe around twenty-four, twenty-five?

“I’m actually a few centuries old,” she said breezily, causing Vali to start panicking – she was reading his mind? “No, just your surface thoughts. It’s so much easier when you don’t have a soul protecting you – it took over your barriers, you know, that sliver. Mother tore them away when she disposed of it.”

Vali didn’t quite get it, not replying as the woman shuffled across the seats, so they were directly facing each other. She stuck her hand out.

“I’m Hela, your sister. It’s nice to finally meet you.” Vali stared, thoughts running amuck. _Hela…_ “You know, I’m sure mother taught you how to speak – maybe I’m just speaking the wrong language again?” She frowned, seemingly trying to pinpoint whether she spoke in another language.

“Hello, sister,” the words got stuck in his throat. It had been nearly seven years since he’d been taken from the Dursley’s, since he’d been told he had brothers and sisters – he’d met Charlie by accident, but this was clearly no accident. _Norns, **Hela**_. “Did you know where I was?”

“Yes, but only after you got into contact with Narfi. We’ve been watching him for many years now.”

“We?” He questioned, before remembering what Eisa, and his mother and Uncle Loki had said – “You had Fenrir.”

“I did, and he was sorry he could not come today, but we would have been noticed if he did.” Hela said, tucking a blonde strand of hair behind her ear before fiddling with her leather jacket. “Sorry, I’m trying to be cheerful today – blonde is my happy hair.”

“Happy hair?” He questioned, frowning. “Mother said you must be a shapeshifter-”

“It’s more complicated than that. Being Queen of the Dead isn’t all its cracked up to be – my soul is corrupted in ways you will never be able to comprehend, in ways my mother could only begin to understand.”

“Oh,” Vali thought on that, not really knowing how to take that in. So, he decided to switch the topic instead, leaving it for something to deal with later. “Why are you here then?”

Hela smiled brightly, and Vali saw why she called it her happy face – it was all the innocence and sunshine in the world, really, it was adorable.

“Meet you, _obviously_ , and to offer you my support this year against Voldemort.” Vali flinched, causing Hela to put a hand out, taking his tightly, still smiling. “Your Headmaster recently approached me, actually. Well, he prayed to me, and I heard him. What he said convinced me to meet with him, and the proof he gave to back up his claims proved that this Riddle boy has done enough so that I can intervene without fear.”

“What did he show you?” Vali questioned, holding her hand back in an as-equally tight grip. Then, before his eyes, Hela seemed to melt into another form, blonde hair being replaced with black, jaw sharpening and her skin paling to a deathly white. Her black eyes burned with hatred as her grip became painful.

“A diary. A _very_ special _diary._ ”

* * *

Hermione Granger did not have many friends. Many people knew that, and many people used it against her – but especially Lavender and Parvati. Hermione saw them every morning getting ready for class – sharing a dorm with them, it was quite impossibly not to, unless they had locked the bathroom door from the inside to do their hair and makeup – and she was always reminded of the It girls, from TV and movies. Lavender and Parvati were always perfectly dressed, with perfect hair and perfect teeth, and surprisingly perfect grades, even in Divination.

Obviously, due to their close proximity, Hermione was their usual target for all things mean, nasty and ‘genuine’. Hermione called it being blunt to the point of pain, but she didn’t exactly have anything to defend herself with, let alone a defender.

The year before, she’d thought she’d made some friends in the school-wide revolution against Professor Umbridge, or at least gained permission to approach some people in an attempt to _become_ their friend. She must have thought wrong though, because once again she was sharing a compartment with herself, i.e. no-one.

“You’re going to be fine, you’ll be perfectly fine – you can always write to mum and dad, and Matilda,” Hermione whispered to herself as she took her Defence text from her bag. Matilda was her cousin, only three years younger than her but potentially just as smart, which said something about both their intellects. Matilda went to Salem Academy for Witches in Massachusetts because she was American, taking muggle subjects at the same time. It had inspired Hermione to do the same, the time-turner she received in third year giving her the opportunity to do so much more work.

Rubbing tired eyes, Hermione went to open her book when a knock sounded from her compartment door. Looking up, Hermione pursed her lips at the sight of Draco Malfoy. Placing her book to the side, she stood up, opening the door with a tap of her wand and a whispered password.

“Yes?”

“Granger, we need to talk. I need you to get a message to Longbottom.”

“What kind of message?” Hermione questioned. Draco looked down the corridor nervously, prompting the witch to step back. “Come on in – but no funny business.” Draco didn’t waste time, coming inside and shutting the door, before casting what Hermione recognised as a silencing ward around the compartment, as well as perimeter and identifier-wards keyed to house crests. “Is it that important?” She questioned under her breath, before Draco pierced her with a glare – and it was only then that Hermione realised how sallow he was, the skin under his eyes bruised and his cheeks hollowed from weight-loss.

“Yes. The Dark Lord is planning to break his loyal followers out of Azkaban. My aunt Bellatrix is one of them – Longbottom needs to know, but I can’t approach him.”

Hermione’s eyes widened, “ _What?_ What do you mean he’s planning to _break his loyal followers out of Azkaban?_ Malfoy, are you insane? Why haven’t you told the Ministry? How do you even-” Hermione stopped, heart skipping a beat before she stepped back. “How do you know, Malfoy? How do you know he’s going to break them out?”

He didn’t stop glaring, stepping forward to match her, barely a foot away from her. “Because he’s in my house. He’s holed up in my home, and he wants to mark me this Christmas. He wants me to kill Albus Dumbledore.” Hermione put a hand to her mouth, before his head turned sharply. “Slytherins. They’re looking for me.” He looked back at her, panic in his eyes. “I can’t explain why I’m here-”

“Well what do you want me to do?” Hermione saw someone pause outside their compartment, dark emerald fluttering at the window. “Oh no…uh, what, why, where, who, how- _who_.” Her cheeks burned at the thoughts that appeared in her head, but it could work, _it might actually work_ -

And she could see a wand being raised behind the glass, could feel the wards being lowered with the school-wide given password from last year’s revolution-

Her hands came up, grabbing his lapels, pulling him down, and Draco seemed to only realise what Hermione was doing at the last second, but by _merlin_ if it wasn’t better than any first kiss she’d ever imagined – and neither paid attention to the guwaffing and sounds of bewilderment and confusion from behind Draco, to the awkward pause that lasted too long before the compartment door was accidentally slammed shut, or to even the fact that all the wards around them were down.

Only a need for oxygen forced them apart.

And they weren’t apart for long.

* * *

Asgard was as beautiful as ever. The buildings were golden, and water sparkled in the light. Einherjar roamed the streets, looking out for the general populace, while the common people went through their day-to-day lives. To Loki, it was a strange sight, having not gazed upon it in several decades. She’d grown used to the vastly different architecture stylings of Earth, and the way people lived.

And the magic.

Oh, the _magic_.

It swarmed her here, pushed her to join her brother, Lord Loki, cleansing her soul and embracing her like a mother did their child. It made ordinary citizens of Asgard look at Lord Loki in wonder, before realising why he seemed so much more powerful. Those who were even just slightly more than them could tell they were two separate sources. It probably would have been easier, however, if Loki and Loki had not been holding hands. They did love a little mischief, after all, even if it was plain as day.

“It is no different at all to my own version,” Loki murmured to her counterpart, who hummed.

“But I doubt you have the same stories, and legends. Did Mjolnir ever get stolen by-”

“-Thrym?” Loki laughed, “Oh, such a glorious day, to see Thor dressed as a maid!”

Lord Loki grinned at her, “T’was quite amusing.” Loki smiled at her brother, before a loud shout caught her attention.

“Loki!” Thor’s angry voice echoed down the street, “Loki, what have you done now – father is furious!” Commoners made way for the boisterous blonde, and it was then that Loki realised the repercussions of a younger Thor. He held none of the poise of his other self, none of the maturity or the wisdom. Loki glanced at her own counterpart. _And to think that we both know he would be crowned soon._

Lord Loki glanced back at her, squeezing her hand lightly before looking to Thor. “Brother, this is my sister, the Lady Loki – she comes from another universe, where I am female.” Loki eyed their brother, keeping an amused expression on her face even as her heart beat like a birds, at a thousand beats a minute. She didn’t want to be locked up, or sent back to her original universe – not when her children were depending on her.

Thor looked over her, becoming confused. “You are Loki?”

“Yes Thor,” she replied in a tired voice, before letting go of Loki’s hand and sweeping over, knowing the best way to gain his trust was to show affection. He stood very still as she came close, raising an eyebrow. “You truly must be different from my Thor if you do not offer an embrace. Does having a brother rather than a sister turn your heart so hard?” Thor looked confused, and Loki could feel Lord Loki’s incredulousness. Rolling her eyes, she wrapped her arms around his neck, hugging him briefly before stepping back again – only for Thor to move, hugging her himself. She winced at his strength, but hugged him back, trying to remember the last time she voluntarily hugged her brother.

“Lovely,” she murmured, before patting his shoulder and pulling away, taking Lord Loki’s hand as she looked around him, catching sight of the Warriors Three and- “Oh my.” She stared at Lady Sif’s hair. “What in Odin’s name happened to your _hair_ , Sif?” Sif clenched her jaw, eyes flickering to Lord Loki. Loki turned to him in disbelief. “No. _No._ You didn’t! _Loki!_ ” She chastised, hitting him, “That’s terrible! What happened?” Lord Loki rubbed his arm, looking to the ground with a badly-concealed grin. Loki looked to Sif, letting go of her brother’s hand to come forwards, looping a lock in her fingers, taking note of the Dwarven magic clinging to it. “Oh, dear Sif…at least you suit it. If you did not, it would be even more terrible.” She sent a glare at Lord Loki, who clasped his hands together behind his back.

“Thank-you, your highness…” Sif seemed wary. Loki let go of her hair, remembering belatedly that this was not her golden-haired Sif, stepping back.

“My apologies. I am used to a high level of physical contact with your counterpart. We were shield-maidens together, in my universe, at least as children, before my father banned us from training together.” Her eyes flickered up and down Sif’s form. “It is strange to see you in red and silver, however – you much preferred my own colours, in my world.”

“Really?” Sif seemed to be disturbed by this, perhaps from her experiences with Lord Loki. Loki sent him another glare at that, before looping her arm with Sif’s. “Uh…”

“I had planned to visit my mother in this universe,” Loki said breezily, “She was many years gone from my own. Would you perhaps escort me?”

“Of course, milady,” Sif sent a panicked look at Thor, before Loki glanced between them.

“You are friendly in this universe. How odd.” Loki started to walk towards the palace, pulling Sif along with her, who stumbled before matching her pace. Thor and Lord Loki, along with the Warriors Three followed behind them. “Would mother be in her gardens?”

“I- I believe so, right now. But the King wished to see Loki urgently-”

“And I am not the Loki he seeks. I wish to see our mother. As I said before, she was many years gone in my universe.”

“The Queen was dead?”

“The Dark Elves came during the Convergence,” Loki murmured, “Malekith came. Mother protected Jane, who the Aethir was using as a host. She died protecting her.”

“Jane?” Sif said, as if the name was strange. In hindsight, from Asgard’s perspective, it was. “Who was she?”

“Thor’s betrothed, apparently,” Loki replied flippantly, noticing how Sif’s features contorted. _Oh dear. This Sif is in love with my brother. Pity._ “I didn’t really care for her. She studied the Bifrost on Earth- Midguard. They call it an Einstein-Rosen Bridge, there.”

“She was Midguardian?” Thor questioned from behind them. Loki glanced back at him, frowning.

“Eavesdropping is very unbecoming, especially for a Prince. But yes, Doctor Jane Foster was Midguardian, and she survived many of your universe-saving adventures. I believe she even gained your respect,” she looked back to Sif, who frowned. “I liked her too, in the end. She slapped me.” Loki smiled at the memory, while Sif raised an eyebrow.

“Why did she slap you?”

“Oh, I tried to take over Midguard under the orders of a galaxy-conquering Titan. I couldn’t exactly _tell_ people I was both being blackmailed and under mind-control though, so they thought it was just me being a megalomaniac.” Loki waved it off. “A lot of things went on in my universe that I can’t explain.”

“Indeed,” Sif muttered, seemingly disturbed by her comment. “Is that why you came to this universe?”

“Yes. I discovered a way to step into a parallel world – it is funny, as I had expected to appear in Asgard. Instead, I was on Midguard, and many years have still yet to pass that I remember, such as Thor’s coronation, and indeed, the Titan controlling me. I will not let that happen to my brother.”

“Thank-you, sister.”

“ _Eavesdropping,_ ” she sung, glancing back at him with a small smile, not blaming him. “It is truly nothing, brother. We are one and the same, and I will not have myself go through that again.” Lord Loki bowed his head in her direction, before they continued to walk, talking of the differences between their worlds as they made their way towards the palace.

When they did reach the palace though, the Einherjar waited for them.

“Prince Loki, the King has ordered you to meet him in the throne room…” the Head Einherjar looked between Loki and Lord Loki. “Your Highness?”

“That’s Your Majesty, to me,” Loki ordered, releasing Sif as she stepped forward, Gungnir appearing in her hands to the shock of all around her. Grimly smiling, Loki looked back at her brother, happy that the staff still recognised her as a former Ruler of Asgard – it would not have come if she were not.

“I told you I was Queen of Asgard in my universe. Did you not believe me?” Lord Loki spluttered, motioning wildly to the staff.

“You did not show me that you had the _King’s Staff!_ ”

“Queen’s staff,” Loki corrected with a slight smirk, before she banged it against the ground. The Einherjar moved out of the way, letting her through into the palace. Sweeping down the corridor, in full Asgardian dress, Gungnir in her hand, Loki felt powerful, in control – but her hand shook and her heart beat fast, and fear crept up the back of her mind because _Odin is here, I am about to face Odin_ and _what if he feels the same, what if he kills them again?_

Approaching the throne room, Loki kept her eyes forward, her head high, not looking at the warriors and courtiers as she came to the doors, once more banging Gungnir, the doors opening in a low wave of magic.

And then she saw him, his eyes burning into her soul. But she didn’t stop walking, not until she was right in front of the throne, the two Gungnir’s positively thrumming with malcontent.

“You are not my son.”

Loki refused to flinch.

“No, I am not. I am from another universe, where many things stay the same, yet my gender is not one of them. I am Lady Loki, Queen of Asgard and Protector of the Nine Realms, Queen of Jotunheim; and Lady Sorcerer of Asgard, Sorcerer of the Nine Realms. My heir has yet to be decided.”

“Heir?” Odin questioned. “You have a King with which you have children?”

Loki forced herself not to bare her teeth, forced herself not to growl. _Presumptuous bigot_ , she inwardly thought, grip tightening around Gungnir before she summoned a chair, sitting down gracefully, leaning back and placing Gungnir over her knees.

“No, actually. I had children from previous relationships. My second-youngest daughter is from a temporary relationship with my universe’s Crown Prince of Muspelheim – does Gludt exist in this reality?” She questioned, honestly curious. Odin didn’t reply, which was answer enough. “Hmm…well, anyway, no, I don’t have a King. I rule with no-one at my side, and before you ask, no, my Thor is not dead. He simply gave up his position as Crown Prince of Asgard and is in a dalliance with a mortal, dedicating his services to protecting Midguard, now that it is attacked on a regular basis by other lifeforms. The Mad Titan made an attempt at taking over the universe, if I do recall my previous home’s troubles correctly – he was defeated.”

The best part about how Odin sucked in a gasp at the mention of Thanos, was how all of what she said was spoken mildly.

“The Mad Titan – he was after the Infinity Stones?”

“Yes,” Loki frowned. _I do hope he does not try to locate the tesseract – it is too important to the timeline to be dislodged now._ Not to mention, how else would Thanos be brought out of hiding? “He was soundly defeated though, by a band of Midguardian heroes, a group whom took Thor into their number. Do not fear, Odin Allfather, for it will be many years until that happens.”

“When? Where is he hiding now? We must strike!” Odin stood, and this time? Loki _did_ growl.

“You old fool, you cannot attack him! He is far away and will only beat you if you tried facing him. Best you leave it to those who will actually get the job done, and aren’t prone to winning but at a high cost to the planets and people around them.”

“You will not talk to me like that, Loki,” Odin narrowed his eyes.

“You have no authority over me – you are not my father, in this reality or in any other, and before you deign to strike me down for so-called insolence, remember just what _exactly_ holding Gungnir means, for both of us.” Loki stood again, vanishing the chair and looking to Lord Loki. “Where is mother? I wish to speak to her before going home – Eisa has an appointment with her doctor.

“I am right here, Loki,” came a familiar voice. Loki turned, eyes wide as she saw her mother. Her breath caught, as she stared at her. Even knowing she was alive in this reality, _seeing_ it…She dressed in teal, in a dress with golden swirls and silver vambraces and shoulder-pads, a tiny torso-piece protecting her stomach. “Why didn’t you bring those beautiful children of yours? I wished to meet them.”

“Mother,” Loki swept over, dropping Gungnir as she hugged her tightly, tucking her head in the crook of her neck. “Mother,” she said in a child’s voice, squeezing her eyes shut as they watered, Frigga stroking her head, undoing her thick braid with ease, hair ties vanishing.

“Loki, child, oh my daughter – you have suffered so much. I’m so sorry you never got to say goodbye to me.” Loki’s shoulders shook. “Shh, my darling. I’m here now…let us go to my gardens. Bring us there.”

“Y-yes mother,” Loki mumbled into her shoulder, before transporting them there. She continued to hug Frigga tightly for many moments more, before finally pulling away, but not straying far, taking her hands and kneeling down in front of her as she sat down on a stone bench. “I have missed you so much.”

Frigga smiled kindly at her, leaning down to kiss her forehead, “Tell me, daughter, why did you come here today?”

“To see you,” Loki breathed, becoming a little confused. “Why? Do you think there is another reason?”

“Well, I did, until I saw you arriving alone – don’t you want to introduce me to my grandchildren?” Frigga laughed slightly as Loki blinked.

“You want to meet them?”

“Indeed. I had been wondering for centuries why tiny buds of your power have been walking Midguard’s soil.”

Loki’s mouth parted a touch. _Hela and Fenrir...she sensed them! She could help me find Einmyria if she is here-_

“How many? How much power did you sense?” Loki questioned breathlessly, holding her mother’s hands tighter. “When did you feel them appear? Was it all at once? Were they far apart-”

“Calm yourself, Loki,” Frigga instructed solidly, causing Loki to quiet, shoulders dropping as she untensed, waiting patiently. “I felt much magic over the centuries – multiple reincarnations, in the case of two souls, and simply longevity for two others. One is truly immortal, while another has the life-span not of Midguard. So, six.” _Six._ It made sense, seeing as Sleipnir was still alive on her Asgard, as far as she knew… “Are all your children, Loki? Truly?”

“Yes. My youngest you would not have sensed, for I adopted her upon my arrival to this reality’s Midguard. Her name is Eisa. Disregarding reincarnations, my next oldest is Einmyria Gludtdottr, and then Vali and Narfi Sigynson.”

“Sigyn? I have heard that name before – Loki of this universe once befriended her, before her father took her to Alfheim. He is an ambassador.”

“Yes, it is much the same in my universe, though Sigyn is dead in my land,” Loki swallowed painfully, squeezing her eyes shut before pushing it all away. _No need to upset Mother._ “My older children you have definitely sensed. My very oldest is Jormungandr, and then Sleipnir. After them came Hela and Fenrir, and then of course, Narfi and Vali, and Einmyria.”

“And Eisa,” Frigga added. Loki smiled softly.

“And Eisa. When she heard I was visiting you, she did actually wish to come, but she has school, and I’m trying to keep her physical activity low…”

“Why, my sweet one?” Frigga questioned. Loki gave a wan smile.

“A mortal disease, of sorts. It’s called cancer – Eisa’s in remission, meaning she isn’t in any danger of dying, but she’s still fragile, and she has to go to regular check-ups with her doctor- healer, in case the disease returns. Her lungs were quite damaged.”

Frigga let go of one of her hands, bringing it up to her cheek, “You feel too much in every universe, it seems. But I did hear your comment about an appointment – she is having one of these ‘check-ups’ soon, yes?”

“Yes mother.”

“Then you must go – and I will make arrangements with one of my handmaidens to have my face for a short time, so I may visit you tomorrow morn with Prince Loki.” Loki felt honoured at her words, a true smile forming on her face.

“Mother…thank-you, oh, this is a lovely day. I will see you soon, mother.” Loki stood, pressing a kiss to Frigga’s forehead, squeezing her hands. “I will inform Lord Loki of my departure. May tomorrow come swiftly.”

Frigga squeezed her hands back, before letting go. “Norns guide you, Loki.” And so Loki travelled back to the throne room to say her goodbyes, not knowing how Frigga shut her eyes, shoulders drooping as a woman came out from behind the trunk of a tree with golden apples. “Iðunn…”

“I heard everything I needed to hear. I’ll think about it, Seidr-sister, but I give you no guarantee. How many children need immortality, again?”


	2. Chapter 2

“Oh, _shut up!_ ” Fenrir scowled as Sirius grinned, pulling the pile of poker chips over to his side of the table. “That’s not fair!”

“Fair is fair, and four of a kind beats that measly hand of yours…you’re just bad at poker, which is totally not okay seeing as you lived through the gold rush.”

“I wasn’t in America at the time,” Fenrir grumbled, throwing his cards down in defeat, slumping in his chair. “You’re good.”

“That I am, but not as good as you might think – Remus is better. He has the _best_ poker face.” Sirius sighed, before tapping the table. “Let’s end this. Cash me in, baby.” Fenrir grunted, before throwing over the package. Sirius opened it up, smirking at the sight of what laid inside. Tucking it inside his jacket, he stood, speaking casually. “Your mother would skin me if she knew I had this now.”

“Which is why neither of us are going to tell her,” Fenrir muttered. “ _Or_ anyone else, for that matter. Not even Hela knows who I’m hiding that with.” Sirius patted his jacket, over where it was now stored.

“Don’t worry, I’ll keep it safe. Now you go run on back to wherever you’re hiding, before your mother comes to ask why I’m in bloody _America_ , of all places.” Sirius looked around the bar, before nodding and walking towards the door, leaving Fenrir to sit in the booth. Once Sirius left, and was out of sight, a lanky figure dropped in to sit beside the man.

“Does he know?”

“Not that it’ll attract some pretty nasty monsters, but he does know everything else.”

“He doesn’t know about me though, does he?”

Fenrir turned his head, looking at Jormungandr with a disgruntled expression. “Do you not trust me to keep you safe, brother?” Jormungandr grunted, before leaning over into his personal space, grabbing his beer and downing it, before meeting his brother’s eyes.

“Little, baby _Fenrir_ …of course I don’t. The only person I trust to keep me safe is me, and even then, ha…” Jormungandr pressed his cheek against Fenrir’s, just sitting for a short while. Fenrir let him, knowing without saying that he was freezing – being like Fenrir, being able to shapeshift into a snake at will, was both a boon and a curse to Jormungandr Lokison. Fenrir ran hot, and Jormungandr was cold-blooded. Fenrir could remember when he was still small, before Hela was old enough to understand her powers, when Jormungandr looked after him and made sure he was safe.

It had been a long time since Fenrir had chosen his brother over his sister.

“Get off,” Fenrir finally ordered, after Jormungandr started to relax, entire body-weight drifting onto him. “Jor, get off me – you’ve got to go.”

“Yeah, I need to go…” but Jormungandr didn’t move. Fenrir sighed, before wrapping his arms around him awkwardly, shifting them until they were out of the booth, Jormungandr draped over him. Dropping a couple of dollars on the table and summoning the poker chips and cards into his jacket-pocket, he hefted his brother’s weight over his shoulder, so he was in a fireman’s lift. Nodding to the barkeep, Fenrir took Jormungandr outside into a nearby alley, travelling through the shadows to Jormungandr’s flat, which was probably not even his, because the snake was a paranoid bastard and wouldn’t even tell Fenrir where he really lived.

Dropping him onto the bed, Fenrir turned on his heated blanket at the wall. “You know, one day, there’s going to be a fire, and your pretty face won’t survive.”

“You think my face is pretty, little brother?” Fenrir made a disgusted face.

“Jormungandr, if you flirt with me again, I will never visit you again, even if the fate of the universe depended on it.”

“Fine,” Jormungandr sighed, before burrowing under his blankets. A few seconds later, Fenrir was spluttering as he dodged flying clothes.

“Hey!”

“I’m shedding!”

“You’re drunk! How did you even get drunk on mortal alcohol?” Fenrir shook his head in disbelief, before he went over to the windows and opened the windows in preparation for the next morning, when hot, Californian sunlight would shine on through.

“It’s called ethanol, bro – where’s my skateboard? I want my skateboard. It has a mango on it – I call myself Mango sometimes…”

“I don’t know where it is,” Fenrir grumbled, before coming over and pulling the covers out of the way of Jormungandr’s head. “And Jor? Keep in mind that too much ethanol _will_ kill you, eventually. We’re not invulnerable. You’ll get liver poisoning or something just as stupid. Goodbye.”

Jormungandr snored.

Fenrir rolled his eyes, before dropping the blankets back over his head.

* * *

Loki swallowed at the sight of vans on the other side of the street. Shutting the curtain, she turned to her mother and Eisa, who was teaching Frigga how to play Monopoly. Lord Loki, who already knew how to play, was occasionally correcting Eisa from his place on the sofa, who didn’t mind, as he enjoyed the game far more than she did.

“Brother, a word?” Loki walked into the kitchen, picking up Marcia as she did so, scratching the cat behind her ears. Lord Loki followed her into the room, both fully aware of how Frigga would be able to hear them if they didn’t put up a ward. As Loki made no motion to, Lord Loki didn’t move to either.

“There are people watching the house. I do not know why.”

Lord Loki pressed his lips together. “Would you like to investigate, sister-mine?”

“Dearly so, my brother, but we must be cautious, in case they are…hostile.”

He nodded sharply. “Who do you suspect to be outside?”

Loki hummed uncertainly, “It could be anyone, but I’d like to think that, due to being in Britain, it is MI-Five. If we are not so lucky, it’s SHIELD or some other agency-” the door suddenly clicked, causing the two Sorcerers head to snap up, both noticing the absence of Eisa and their mother.

“Oh no…” the two said as one, before rushing to the front living-room window, pushing the curtains out of the way in time to see Eisa knock on the window or the van, the dogs surrounding them. The two managed to contain themselves as Loki put Marcia down and went outside, coming to stand behind Frigga as the window rolled down, an unfamiliar man leaning out.

“Yes?”

“What might you be doing on the side of the road?” Frigga asked charmingly, “Are you perchance lost?” The man looked her up and down, adjusting his glasses.

“No,” he replied, before Loki heard a voice coming from – strangley enough – his glasses’ legs.

“ _Geraint, disengage with the civilians, I repeat, disengage with the civilians. Targets are on the move. Disengage!_ ” ‘Geraint’ looked panicked.

“Sorry, ma’am, have to go.” He rolled up the window, before starting the engine and driving off. Loki breathed a sigh of relief – _they weren’t after us –_ but didn’t hesitate before turning to her mother, expression dangerous.

“What would have happened if they had wanted to harm us? Eisa’s _mortal_ and her control over her magic is _shit!_ ” Loki hissed. Frigga blinked at her, surprised by her reaction. “You cannot act of your own accord here, mother, this is _not_ Asgard. Eisa could have been killed, or worse- kidnapped! There are people on this world who would love to get their hands on her-” Lord Loki went to put his hand on her arm.

“Sister-”

“No, brother!” Loki shrugged his arm off violently, looking Frigga in the eye. “Eisa is mortal. Eisa is fragile. Eisa is a child. You put her first. You don’t eavesdrop then take matters into your own hands – I was dealing with it!”

“Mum…” Eisa interrupted her tirade. “Mum?” She latched onto the sleeve of her emerald button-up, pouting. “Please don’t shout at nana. She didn’t mean anything by it.” Loki hesitated though – all of what she said was true. “Please.”

“…alright. I won’t shout at nana,” Loki said softly, only now realising what she had done. She looked at her mother, cringing. “Mother-” Frigga put up a hand.

“No, it’s fine, Loki, you’re right – I shouldn’t have acted so quickly, without informing you, and involving your daughter. You’d think I were taking lessons from Thor.”

Lord Loki chuckled, “Or perhaps everyone assumes it is only because of Odin that he is so brash. You have learnt to contain your impulsiveness, perhaps.” Loki hit him lightly at that, before lightly pulling back Darling as she went to run out onto the road, the focus of their attentions done.

“Qiānjīn – _would you herd the dogs inside?_ ” She asked Eisa in Mandarin, who paused for a moment before nodding.

“ _Yes mama_. Darling, Admiral, come on! Inside, _inside_.” Eisa patted her knees, before running towards the house. The two Loki’s were left outside with Frigga, who flattened a crease in the black, long-sleeved shirt Loki had given her to wear with the dark brown leggings she’d already been wearing, which Loki had judged to be ordinary enough that mortals wouldn’t give her a second glance for wearing them. Coupled with the hide boots she wore, her belt and how her hair was held back in the simplest way Loki had ever seen before, Frigga looked like she was from one of those riding movies, sans the cowboy hat.

“What was that language? The Allspeak does not seem to be working properly.”

“It’s to improve her multilingualism. Midguard has many countries, which speak multiple languages – she was from the land known as China, so she speaks Chinese, or rather, Mandarin. She also speaks Kree, Hungarian, Norwegian and Russian.”

“Maybe we should take this inside,” Lord Loki interjected, taking Loki’s hand. She nodded, allowing him to tug her towards the house, Frigga following.

“Why Kree?”

Lord Loki hummed, “Indeed, sister, why Kree?”

Knowing the answer would need some explaining, and that Eisa herself should be told, Loki didn’t reply until they were in the living room again.

“Eisa, I have to tell you something important that your uncle and nana want to know about too, so can we pause any more explanations about Monopoly?”

Eisa looked suspicious, but nodded, “Sure mum. What is it?” The explanation didn’t take long, and afterwards, Loki couldn’t actually focus on her mother and counterpart, as Eisa – to her surprise, as she usually took things well – had a…panic-attack, of some sort.

“Eisa, Eisa, shh, shh- what is it? Did it upset you? Eisa-”

“They changed our DNA,” Eisa interrupted in a high voice, “Is that why I got ill? Because my DNA’s all mixed up? Am I going to get sick again? I don’t want to get sick again.” Her hands went to her chin-length hair, only just grown back to a length she liked. She’s sworn never to cut her hair again if she could help it.

Understanding now, Loki soothed her, stroking her face gently, “Oh qiānjīn, my darling baby – you’re not going to get sick again, and if you did get sick again, I’d be right beside you, and so would your daddy, and Vali and Narfi and your uncle and maybe even your nana if you asked her to.”

“I j-just don’t want to- to be bald again, mama,” Eisa hiccupped, teary-eyed, shoulders shaking.

“You won’t be bald again, my sweet girl.” Loki continued to calm her, giving her brother a grateful nod when he supplied Eisa with her oxygen cannula, which she’d taken off when Frigga took outside. All the while, Frigga herself watched them, and only a short while after, the Queen was once again on the ground being talked to about the merits of Monopoly.

Loki sat off to the side with Darling in her lap, a book on biology open in hand. And so she began to read.

* * *

“Luna?” Vali poked his head into her cabin, where she sat with four others – Neville Longbottom, Dean Thomas and Ron and Ginny Weasley. “Hey.” He waved at them all, getting a few hellos back, before Luna blinked, drifting out of her daze to look at him.

“Yes, Your Highness?”

“Come with me?” He posed it as a question, watching as she hummed before shutting her upside-down Quibbler, walking over and outside with him, shutting the door. “So, uh, you probably already know…”

“Your sister hides herself well,” Luna confirmed with a small smile. Vali smiled at her, before leaning down to kiss her cheek. “What do you need me for?”

“Hela just wants to speak to you, for a bit, don’t know why.” Luna hummed again, so he assumed she already knew the future topics of conversation, before they started in the direction of his compartment. Upon reaching it, Luna entered, immediately curtsying to the dour Goddess.

“Your Majesty, it’s an honour.” Hela grumbled, waving her in to sit across from her.

“You’re one of those so-called ‘demi-gods’.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“What is your lineage, creature?”

Vali frowned, “Hela…”

Hela’s eyes flickered to him, before going back to Luna. “My apologies. What is your lineage, little witch?”

Luna hummed, eyes drifting to Hela’s shoulder, staying there, “Lady Hecate is my mother, but so was my human mother, before she died. I have a Light Elf of Alfheim for my grandmother, through my father, though. Everything combined is…odd.”

“I can imagine,” Hela nodded shortly, before leaning forwards, hand reaching out to Luna’s butterbeer cork necklace, that shone with a million swirls of magic – even now, years later, Vali couldn’t stand to look at it directly, but Hela didn’t seem to have that problem. She took it in hand, turning it on Luna’s neck so she could see every cork. “Your father made this for you, I’ll assume, using the skills his own mother taught him – your immortal parent enchanted it, over the top. The magics have merged…I would ask a favour of you, Luna Lovegood.”

“Anything, Your Majesty.”

Hela tilted her head, sneering, “Don’t say something you don’t mean, child.” Luna met her eyes again, before reaching up to her neck, taking her necklace off. Vali made an aborted move to stop her, before she handed it over to his sister, who tucked it inside her jacket. Without Luna wearing it, Vali didn’t know what to think – his brain and his magic were pulling him in two different directions. His brain told him to make Hela give it back. It was Luna’s – she shouldn’t have to give it up because Hela wanted her to prove a point.

His magic wanted him to kill her.

Vali grit his teeth, pushing back up against the door of the compartment, which had shut on its own sometime between his arrival and then. His magic _screamed_ at him, wanting her dead for reasons Vali didn’t even know.

“What’s happening to me?” Vali hissed, grasping his hair tight enough to burn as he squeezed his eyes shut.

“Calm down, brother – are you really that weak?” Hela scoffed, before he felt the urge suddenly recede. He opened his eyes, looking to Luna, who was playing with the corner of her Quibbler. “Luna?”

Hela spoke for her, “Miss Lovegood’s nature is a strange one. Her necklace was an amateur’s work, and then was added to by an ill-informed Titan. It will take some time for her magics to settle into each other, but at this point in her growth, it is the most safest. Until then, I have implemented an enchantment of my own, for people to ignore the after-effects of parts of her magics joining.”

“But why did we even need Luna’s necklace? It’s Luna’s!” Vali sat beside his friend, holding a hand out, being given hers less than a second later to hold tightly.

Hela shrugged, “It’s a unique item. It has the influence of an ancient being who lives in the Underworld of Midguard and is intimately familiar with it, and the diversity of space and skill. Three things – tell me, brother, what is so special about the number three?”

“It’s a magical number,” he muttered, “the triad is the second-most powerful number.”

“Seven is the foremost,” Hela added to his explanation. “This is the beginning to destroying that wretched excuse of a Dark Lord in this universe for good.”

“But _why?_ How?”

Luna replied in Hela’s stead, this time.

“Because Queen Loki didn’t send the first piece of soul in your forehead to the Underworld, Vali – she sent it to Niflheim.”

* * *

The room was dark, the firelight the only thing illuminating the room. The group of Death Eaters looked around warily, only Bellatrix narrowing her eyes at the mirror over the mantle. Abruptly she gasped, turning and dropping to the ground, bowing low.

“Master!”

The other Death Eaters looked around, confused, before a short, dark chuckle came from the balcony above. Soon, all were bowed, the Dark Lord surveying them critically, small smile still on his lips.

“My loyal followers…today, you were broken from Azkaban Prison…by _me_ …I, who came back to life, clinging to the fabric of reality for over a decade before discovering the Philosopher’s Stone. I, who hatched the plan to completely resurrect myself with the help of other loyal followers who tried to find me, after overcoming their bonds…Harry Potter, who now calls himself Vali Lokison – and Loki, oh, the stories I have to tell you of her, my followers – kindly donated his blood to my cause, though I was informed my thank-you gift of a prolonged amount of time under the Cruciatus curse left him severely disabled for a short time, before he regained himself…”

“Our Lord, it is an honour to see your new form!” Bellatrix cried, actually crying. Voldemort looked down at her, smirking nastily.

“Yes, Bellatrix, it is.”

And then he cackled.

* * *

_Vali,_

_I received a copy of the Daily Prophet. In response to this, your training will increase. I have already spoken to Professor’s Dumbledore and McGonagall – meet me in your training room this evening. You will spend every second day and Sunday increasing your skills in both combat and diplomacy – and your grandmother will be joining us on occasion, for the latter lessons. Your uncles too. Thor will be coming this Saturday to watch you. Do not worry – he will be under silencing and movement-restricting spells the entire time._

_All my love,_

_Mother._

* * *

Eisa cricked her head as she peered up at the wax figure. “Who’s that, dad?” She looked to the description. “‘Captain America’.”

James’ grip on her hand increased. “Remember the stories I used to tell you about Uncle Steve?”

“Yeah.” She glanced at him, watching as he motioned to the statue. Eisa looked between him and the figurine, before her eyes bugged and she whisper-shouted, “You knew _Captain America?_ ”

James nodded stiffly, before leading her away from the figure, over to another display. Eisa was speechless.

“They knew me as Bucky back then. Could you answer a question for me, Eisa?”

“Yeah…” She looked up at him in awe, not noticing how nearby people started to murmur, looking between her adoptive father and the blown-up cut-out of Bucky Barnes. “What?”

James crouched down in front of her, shifting her backwards cap around as the flashes started. “Why did your mother bring you here to live with me for the next couple of weeks?”

Eisa’s awe faded, “She didn’t tell you about the break-out.” James’ eyes became confused.

“Break-out?”

Eisa came close, breathing in his ear, “Voldemort broke his friends out of Azkaban. They sent a letter to the newspaper saying that they were going to hunt down Vali.” James took her hands, squeezing them uncomfortably tight.

“Really? Good thing your mom sent you to me.”

Eisa pulled back, nodding, “Can you teach me how to speak American like you?”

James gave a tight smile, tired anger brewing in his eyes, “Sure, pipsqueak.”

“I’m not a pipsqueak!” She shot back, prompting him to grin, standing straight again.

“Oh really?” She squealed as his grabbed her, throwing her over his shoulder and running out of the museum – just in time to miss the beginnings of a SHIELD infestation.

* * *

She could tell just by looking in the mirror that her dreams weren’t just dreams. She could tell, after a long bath and access to soap that she looked like a child-version of the woman she’d seen in her dreams – all blonde hair and grey eyed, with a rounded jaw that would eventually thin into the soft but sharp chin of the woman in her dreams. But if she was the woman, then that meant _they_ were real too.

She didn’t know if she could deal with that.

“Come on, kid – catch up! We’re going to be late for breakfast!”

She whipped her head around, looking to her brother. “I’m coming, just a second.” She scrambled to grab her jumper, not noticing the photo fall out and onto the floor as she left.

It glowed soft silver in her wake.

* * *

“-the fuck, Loki? Why the hell did you send my poor little niece away to live in dangerous, gun-toting, full-body-shudder accents _America?!_ ” Elizabeth stared at her friend in disbelief. “You do know that kids in schools there have to do more than bloody fire drills – they have tornado drills, lockdown drills, flooding drills – it’s batshit insane over there! And if she doesn’t get her homework done in time, her grade goes down and Eisa is _always_ a day late in handing it in, no matter that you make her do it the afternoon she gets home.”

Loki frowned, opening the new box of Cheerios, before pouring some into her glass of milk. “It can’t be that bad.”

“No, it is…what the fuck?” Elizabeth blinked, leaning over her toast to stare at Loki’s glass. “Did you just put the milk first? Loki, no – no, no, no, no, no. Cereal, _then_ milk.”

Loki looked down, slightly confused. “What…I thought that was a bowl.” Elizabeth let out a relieved sigh.

“Oh, thank god-”

“-though I disagree with your opinion. Putting your cereal first means you have no idea how much milk is in your breakfast,” Loki argued, Elizabeth groaning. “And what experience do you have with cereal in any case? Your household has cooked breakfasts and or toast every morning. Milk is for tea, cooking and baking.”

Elizabeth grumbled, “I know, but still – everyone but you puts their cereal in first.”

“You’re exaggerating again. Let us stop before we get into another argument that expands into one like our debate over whether pie is a dessert or a main.”

“It is a main!” Elizabeth shot up, back straightening, “I will _never_ back down on this!” Loki rolled her eyes, before Bran walked into the kitchen, rubbing his eyes. “Hey baby.”

“Hi mum, hi Aunty Loki,” Bran muttered, before pulling himself up onto the island table’s stool beside his mother as Loki handed over his toast, which had been sitting out with butter melting through it. “Thank-you.”

“You’re welcome, Brandon,” Loki murmured, before looking to Elizabeth, “Anyway, back to our original topic, yes, Eisa is with her father right now, until this Voldemort character is defeated. Vali has requested to me not to interfere – he is planning something, I can tell.”

“And you’re not going to do anything?” Elizabeth frowned. “Why? You could take him out easy.”

Loki shrugged, before digging into her Cheerios. “Vali wishes to prove himself. He is sixteen – with my plans to introduce him to my family in this realm, it would be folly not to have him working on defeating some form of enemy. Thor and I got into enough adventures that the only thing I had to do to prove my worth was foil a plot that would have led to the deaths of many ambassadors to Muspelheim. Odin himself, too, while his childhood quests have been long forgotten by historians of Asgard, still did something – I recall him telling me some few hundred years ago,” Loki thought back, fleetingly. She was sure it had something to do with the High Temple of Jotunheim, but what else, she had no idea.

“So…it’s expected, for him to do this?”

“Yes,” Loki drew her attention back to Elizabeth, who still seemed worried, “Don’t fret, El, Vali is confident, and I trust him to get it done.”

* * *

“I’m never going to get this done before he can do some real damage,” Vali dragged his hands down his face. Hela kissed his cheek comfortingly, in her happy child form today.

“Don’t be like that, Vali, we’ll manage fine. Go over the list again.”

Vali sighed, before sitting back in his chair, shutting his eyes. “Me. His diary. The ring that turned Dumbledore’s hand black over the summer. That’s three, but you said they aren’t big enough, and three is a magical number, but seven is better, and Tom Riddle took Arithmancy…four. We don’t know four.”

Hela flipped through the diary, thumbing the aged pages. “The Headmaster confided in me when he gave this to me, that Lucius Malfoy was his suspect. He was reportedly a Death Eater.”

“H-he is,” Vali flinched at the stutter, squeezing his eyes painfully. “He’s a Death Eater. He w-was at the graveyard.” Hela’s carefree expression trembled for a second, and Vali opened his eyes, looking directly at her, not quite wanting to deal with a vengeful version of his sister right then. Thankfully, he only witnessed her age some twenty years into her lanky blonde form, who shifted and pulled him into a one-armed hug. He gratefully hugged her back, before she kissed his forehead, like she had kissed his cheek only a little earlier.

“If Riddle gave him a horcrux, he must have been in the Inner Circle.”

“Bellatrix Lestrange was supposed to be his most devoted follower,” Vali added quietly. Hela hummed.

“Where would she keep something that precious?”

“Hogwarts is the safest place in Britain,” Vali replied slowly, something in his head… _oh, Hagrid said something – what did he say?_ “Except Hogwarts, except-” He stopped, before slowly grinning.

Hela cocked her head.

“Brother?”

“ _Gringotts._ ”


	3. Chapter 3

Loki didn’t quite know what to do with herself. She kept making decisions she regretted, kept making goals and completing them too soon, leaving her purposeless until a new little event peaked her interest. On Asgard, duty had kept her busy. Paperwork, diplomacy, ambassadorial duties – it had kept her from having free time. Prison gave her too much time, with little to zero things to worry about. She seemed to live on either end of the spectrum, never between.

This existence?

This was different.

She was drifting – drifting from a path she’d walked for centuries. And she was becoming careless. Sending Eisa to James was a mistake, but she couldn’t take it back, because James refused to give her back until she’d dealt with the escaped prisoners. The problem with that was Loki had no way to track them. Unlike on her search for Sirius that led her to his animagus form, she was faced with barriers – literal barriers. Magic surrounded their souls, wards, and a powerful bond – a Master-Servant Bond, of all the types of bond that could exist – so tracing them using an image, for images stole a part of your soul every time one was taken of you, in any form, was impossible. It left Loki rankled and irritated.

And then there was Vali, who asked her to let him deal with Voldemort. The piteous Dark Lord was Vali’s hunt, his quest, and technically, the Death Eaters, the escaped prisoners – they fell under his purview. Loki was left with the dilemma of choosing whether to leave the quest to Vali, who promised to have Voldemort at least incapacitated by Yule, or…

 _Or I can steal Draco’s mother_ , Loki drifted through the air, invisible to the witch in front of her. Blonde and brunette hair pulled back into a perfect braid, emerald robes unruffled and heavenly to Loki’s soft senses, Narcissa Malfoy nee Black was directly related to one of Voldemort’s most loyal followers – Bellatrix Lestrange nee Black. Loki could find her with Narcissa’s blood, could seek her out like a hound that had scented blood.

Could.

 _But I don’t have to_. Loki drifted up and away from the woman, her unease at kidnapping the woman for her blood abating as she decided against it. _Eisa is safe with James and Vali will do as he promised._ Disappearing to her home, Loki rematerialized in her study, sitting down at her desk. She looked over it, flicking through the papers piled there.

“Ah yes,” she muttered, recognising the beginnings of her biology thesis. The professor at Glasgow University told her when she showed her it that it was already impressive. Loki hadn’t expected them to say much more – which meant she was quite surprised when they gave her a past paper for the Masters course on Biology. She’d completed it in half the time-limit in front of the professor that evening, without any aid or difficulty. She in turn reported it to a Board of some sort, and now Loki had to complete her thesis, hand it in, then do a large amount of practical work in the lab – with Eisa’s absence, it proved easier to complete the required hours. There was an exam too, but that was still to be arranged.

Standing again, she snapped her fingers, waiting a few seconds for the papers to come flying through the open door into her study. But nothing happened. She snapped her fingers again, feeling a tug on her magic from a foreign source. Frowning, Loki followed the silvery light, freezing as she recognised the soul the magic belonged to.

“Come on down, mum. I’m watching the Simpsons!” Came a muffled shout from downstairs. Loki teleported to her living room, staring at Hela, the rest of her thesis on her lap.

She was different from the last time she’d seen her. Grown. Tall – hair blonde as Sigyn’s, if a little darker at the roots. _Dark blonde_ , Loki rationalised as she watched her daughter, not quite believing what she was seeing. She was beautiful, amazing, wonderful…she didn’t look like Angrboda in the slightest, except perhaps in her jaw, and the colour of her skin. _And her eyes, they are as blue as the eyes of Angrboda’s Aesir body were._

“How are you here? Why did you see Charlie and Eisa but not me? Do you know where any of your siblings are? Do you hate me?”

Hela hummed, “I’m here because Fate and Coincidence met in a bar and decided that since it was indeed Fate that said I reunite with you, it should be by Coincidence that the way we reunite be in a way that ensures our meeting is happy. Our family is now fated to be whole again, and Fate ensured that by Coincidence this would happen. As for seeing Charlie and Eisa, well, I wanted to meet my newer brother and sister. Upon arriving here, I found Fenrir by Coincidence and took him under my wing – he was only a baby, poor puppy, due to being reborn in this dimension. He’s on an expedition for me, tracking down certain objects I need from the magical societies around Earth.” At that, she paused, obviously thinking, but soon she hummed again and continued as if she hadn’t stopped.

“The two of us met with Jormungandr a few decades after our first arrival – he is still the oldest of us all. He likes to travel, though he prefers the Americas over Europe, Asia and Oceania. Not even I can track him down. He comes to you.” Hela paused again, this time to shift herself on the sofa, tugging off her boots to sit cross-legged on her sofa. Loki didn’t move. “You yourself have discovered Vali and Narfi, along with adopting Eisa. Eisa is with James Barnes in New York. Charlie is in Romania. Vali is at Hogwarts. Sleipnir however, has not appeared at any point in this history – I believe it is because he isn’t dead yet. I still hold some power in our old dimension, but it has been transferring to this Niflheim – I switched places with my counterpart, apparently. Sleipnir’s soul has not entered Helheim, in our old universe, or this one.”

“And Einmyria?”

Hela blinked, “Who’s that?” Loki came out of her slight stupor at that, breathing unsteadily, before coming to sit next to her curious daughter, eldest only to Jormungandr and Sleipnir.

“Einmyria, she is my youngest daughter, with the exception of Eisa,” Loki said carefully, watching Hela for any signs of resentment, or jealousy, or any negative emotion. “Her father was the Crown Prince Gludt. I had her during the Infinity Wars, in our old universe, when I once escaped my cell for a few decades. We parted fairly amicably after Odin’s kidnapping of her, though unlike me, until I came here, he still searched, adamant on finding – and these are his own words – ‘the Princess of Muspelheim’. I did not have much chance to search for her myself, due to being imprisoned once more. King Surtur was obviously, in more recent years, very unfriendly towards Asgard, though I and any borne of my blood and or magic are welcome on their planet.”

“So I have another sister…how old would she be? What may she look like?” Hela’s eyes were slightly distant, but a spark was blooming. Loki felt her heart in her chest gain a little speed.

“I do not know, but she was born with dark hair, that looked red in the light, and brown eyes – soft, though not especially warm, nor hazel.”

“And being of Muspelheim, she would be a very special child…not dissimilar to Fenrir or Jormungandr, I’d assume. Longevity, advanced or slowed aging…slowed,” she muttered, before clasping her hands together. “America. I saw her once, I believe, at a school there. I had thought her to be odd – she wore heat on her skin like I wear ice. I had been searching for Sleipnir, knowing he would not be significantly much older, at least physically, though years might separate him mentally from his so-called peers. I came back soon after, when I had a free moment. She’d disappeared. No-one knew she’d even existed.”

Loki swallowed, feeling something warm in her chest as she smiled. _Einmyria is alive_. “I only had her a century ago. Perhaps she was scared.”

“Perhaps she knew she had to be scared – I can remember every moment of my life, including when Odin took me to Helheim.”

“You can? Hela…” Loki was horrified. She brought her hands up, going to reach for her- but she stopped, pausing in mid-air, before pulling back. _Hela might be my daughter, but I haven’t earnt that yet_. At least, she didn’t think she’d earnt it. Which was why she was once more surprised when Hela reached for her hands, tugging them off her lap and to the space between them, shifting again so they were opposite each other, the Simpsons playing in the background.

“Hey, c’mere. I told you, I can remember every moment of my life – that means I remember you too. You only had me for a couple of minutes, but you loved me so much. I’ve lived by what you said to me then, I’ve remembered that someone loves me.” Hela smiled a little, “I told Fenrir to meet me here, by the way – I don’t know how long he’ll be though, so I suppose I should stay until he returns.” Loki let out a startled laugh, before leaning over and hugging Hela tightly.

“Oh, my girl, my lovely daughter…it’s wonderful to finally meet you.”

“It’s good to finally meet you too.”

* * *

“You know, you’re a phenomena, Miss Friggadottr,” her professor rubbed the corner of her eye, placing her finished thesis on her desk. “I have never in all my years at this institution seen someone quite like you.”

“Thank-you, ma’am,” Loki smiled politely. “What happens now?”

“Well, you only have about a hundred more hours left to complete in the lab, and then of course the actual exam itself – I would suggest revising, and thinking on what you would do afterwards. You could go for another degree, get a job – a PhD would be an easy task for you, if you applied yourself to it with as much vigour as you have the rest of your studies. What have you in mind? I know you have children that you put first.”

“That is true…I was initially a language and cultures student, you know. I moved to study international law and biology due to personal interest in a certain agency abroad…”

“An agency, you say?” Her professor raised their eyebrow, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. “There was a rumour that you defended two woman on the campus from an assault against their persons from a homophobic drunkard. Were you a military brat, by any chance?” Loki blinked rapidly, trying to figure out what she meant – it happened occasionally, even now, after seven years of living on Earth, Loki not understanding certain colloquiums and idioms. ‘Netflix and chill’ still baffled her, and she’d have to wait another decade at the very least to understand the true interpretation – Thor’s smug face at her confusion, when he conversed with her once from outside her cell, using said idiom, still bothered her to this day.

“What is a…‘military brat’?”

Her professor hummed, “Your student file said you were an immigrant from Norway – a military brat, a child of a soldier, or some form of military personnel?”

Loki briefly thought to her cover story in this world, that she had made when she first settled with Vali and Eisa. _French-Norwegian, with well-travelled parents, my family tree…_ Loki could remember the hassle it had been to make that bloody family tree, making identities for each of them. She had to be fool-proof, so SHIELD couldn’t poke holes. She’d gone so far as to edit photos and even the memories of a few people – that had taken precision, and time, and so many visits back to them as well, not only to reinforce the memories but to make connections as ‘their old comrade’s daughter’. She’d introduced herself to so many people around Scandinavia and Europe, too, who could prove to be witnesses to her existence.

Oh, and let her just add now: the Norwegian military after World War Two was a mess, still regrouping after they were invaded by the Germans. It meant it was easy for her to slip in the faked, backdated forms about her various soldier and sailor uncles. Unfortunately, it wasn’t as easy to backdate and forge medical training records when information like that wasn’t so easily available, so her mother couldn’t be a nurse from France. Luckily though, she _could_ simply be someone from France, whose home was destroyed, who came over to Norway, wandering, only to meet her father and decide to stay.

“Miss Friggadottr?”

Loki snapped back to attention, “My apologies. I was simply trying to remember if there was a term for it that my parents used – I believe I would apply though, yes.” She replayed their conversation in her head. “My father taught my brother how to defend himself, though not I. A childhood friend wished to learn as well though, so we banded together and copied them – both of us grew up to be better than my brother.” She flashed a smile, to which her professor replied.

“I wish you luck when you decide to apply – you’re still young yet though, and all employers like that love it when you have qualifications.”

“Are you trying to convince me to do something, Professor?” Loki demurred, settling back in her chair that little bit more, smirking. Her professor though, didn’t even blink, which Loki didn’t mind in the least – her professor was much like Jane Foster in that way. Unless something truly caught her attention, she wouldn’t even notice it was there.

“Just to stay a little longer. You could go so far, if you chose to.”

“I think I will,” Loki looked at the clock, noticing the time. “But I will depart now – I promised two of my children to take them out for dinner at the new restaurant on Sauchie Hall Street.”

“It’s very good,” the professor noted, standing and holding out her hand. Loki stood fluidly, shaking it. “Eisa and Vali will enjoy it.”

“Oh, I’m not taking Eisa and Vali – Eisa’s in America with her father at the moment, and Vali is at boarding school,” Loki replied, noting her professor’s confusion. “I have more than two children, Professor. Hela and Fenrir are the ones I am taking out tonight.”

“But you’re so young for four bairns…” the professor murmured under her breath. “Your student file said you were born in sixty-five. They the middle children, then? Between Vali and Eisa?”

“No…” Loki cocked her head sideways, “Hela is the oldest of the four of them.”

Her professor seemed alarmed now, her eyes slightly panicked. “How- how old is your son again?”

“Sixteen…” Loki narrowed her eyes, suspicious. “Why?” She looked to the clock again. _I’m going to be late if I don’t go soon._

“You were fifteen when you had Vali…” her professor mumbled, before speaking louder. “How old were you when you had your other children?”

It took a second for things to fall into place in Loki’s head.

“Oh,” Loki breathed, “Oh- this is…this is not quite where I thought our conversation would lead.” She should have made herself older on her paperwork – should have realised Hela and Fenrir’s entrances, Charlie’s entrance even, would implicate things that just weren’t true. Aesir- Jotun, they lived longer, things were different, only Sleipnir’s sire had…Loki breathed in and out, calming her suddenly racing heartbeat at the thought of the Builder’s beast, how Thor had laughed as- _In, out, in, out_ …She shut her eyes, bringing her hands to her head, trying to force the memories not to resurface, to return to the depths of her mind.

She heard the footsteps of her professor, the hands on her elbows.

“Loki, do you need anything? Anyone? Would you like some water? To sit down again?”

“I’ve got a dinner,” Loki’s breathing hitched, “I’ve- I’ve got to meet them.” Abruptly, she collapsed back down into the chair, legs unable to take her weight as images flashed in front of her eyes, her breathing erratic. “We have dinner.”

“Loki, is there a phone number you can give me? Is there a friend who can pick you up?” Her professor’s voice was steady, calm – Loki latched onto it.

“Keep talking.”

“You want me to talk? I can do that – I can talk, I can do this. I can talk – why don’t we talk about your thesis. Let’s talk about your thesis.” And then she went on, talking about her admiration of the references she made, the unique formulae and almost surreal way she phrased things, leading off into different directions in such a streamline way. Loki listened, and Loki calmed down, until her mind was quiet, and only her professor’s face was her focus.

The mental ghost of Svadilfari disappeared.

“They’ll be worried about me.” Loki put in quietly, when her professor took a long pause, taking a drink from a water bottle on her desk. “I haven’t been allowed to see them for a long time – my father sent them away. He called them monsters. I knew where Fenrir was being kept the entire time – I could hear him when he- when he cried. Hela was on the other side of the u- of the world. She grew up, and she found her brothers, and then she found me. Our reunion was very recent. My father doesn’t know.”

“Your father sounds like he deserves a punch in the face.” Her professor said frankly, offering her water bottle. Loki took it, letting the lukewarm liquid run down her throat – or maybe it was cold. There was condensation on the plastic. _Jotun ancestry…I wonder if that’s why Odin hated them._ He’d called them things worse than monster, after all. “Do you want me to phone them for you? Or would you like to just go home and see them?”

“I…I should go home.” Loki said quietly, before meeting her professor’s eyes. “Thank-you. I will not forget this. You have provided a service that…that none have given before, when I have been in this situation before.” Her break-downs were different from this. This was- this was a curse, one that she’d suffered from many years after the Incident. Thor had laughed, had been confused, been ignorant, been mollified. Sif hadn’t known what to do – and Frigga had tried to console her, but only made it worse. She’d been one of her few supporters at the time, but even she had never really…made it better. If anything, for once when it came to Frigga, Loki could not be helped.

Her professor took her hand, squeezing it. “Any time, Loki. You can even pull me out of a lecture, if you want.” Loki gave a shaky grin at that, which her professor shared – they both knew that she didn’t stop her lectures for anything save life or death.

It was time for her to go home.

* * *

When Eisa convinced her dad to buy her a computer, he bought a _computer_. Top of the range, Eisa had the most expensive desktop you could get, so her dad, after the third corporation tried to steal it in a single week, had them move into a new house, out of their small apartment – because it was an ‘apartment’ in America, not a flat, and it was a ‘lavatory’ instead of just a toilet or bathroom, and ‘sneakers’ instead of trainers, and lots of other stuff that Eisa didn’t know if she liked. The new house – _too many new houses, too many moves, too many, everything was strange and Eisa felt like she was going to cry sometimes, in the dark under her covers_ – was in a proper neighbourhood, with a proper Neighbourhood Watch and big wall around it.

Eisa always felt like she was trapped when waiting with the other kids for the school bus inside the fence, just outside the guard’s post, knowing she couldn’t get out.

Her dad set up the computer in their attic room, so she was closer to the satellite disk and all the other connection things wouldn’t have to be wired any further than a couple of feet. Every time Eisa was up there, she was in awe of it – until, of course, she actually sat down, logged in, and started up the newest tutorial in ‘coding’.

(It was hacking. The women behind the tutorial had been the ones to guide her in her treasured hobby, and it was with their teaching over the past year or so that she had regrettably been able to get those security cameras in the hotel in NYC on a loop, that led to Eisa seeing her mother in a way she _never_ wanted to see her again.)

Eisa could do a lot with her ‘coding’, in theory. Mostly, she just learnt, and designed her own blog, not actually posting things unless she discovered a Neighbourhood Secret, like how Mrs Damen liked to steal cuttings from Mrs Jasper’s garden, and how the postman stopped to peer through Tracey Zack’s window when she was sleeping – he’d only done it twice, to Eisa’s knowledge, but that didn’t make it any less weird for him to look through Tracey’s window, so she made sure to put up a video of the second time he did it on her blog. Funnily enough, a couple of days later, there was a new postman.

When she wasn’t on her computer though, Eisa spent time with her dad, and went to school, and played with the other kids – but they didn’t like her much, and she didn’t like them. They called her a know-it-all for being in middle school rather than elementary, and ugly and forty-fiver and chino and geek and nerd. Eisa didn’t tell her dad – she could remember, vaguely, that he’d been ordered to kidnap her when she was a toddler, before her mum fixed him, and she knew where a lot of guns were in the house. Her dad had bought dozens of new ones when they moved in, hiding them around the house and telling her exactly what to do if she found one.

Leave it alone. Don’t touch it.

But, if there’s was bad person in the house, pick it up and shoot them in the foot, or alternatively, shoot a window or ceiling to let someone know and run like hell.

…Eisa didn’t want her bullies dead. So therefore, no telling her dad they actually existed in the capacity of bullies. It wasn’t like they hit her or anything – Eisa knew that if someone actually got hurt around here, the parents literally _swarmed_. The parents of the kid who hurt the other kid would be stared at and talked about, and the local preacher would come around and talk to them.

There were _literal_ Interventions, and if the kid didn’t stop, they had to move away – far, far away, so their reputation wouldn’t be tarnished by gossips that spread their nets wide.

Eisa knew they talked about her dad, and Eisa too, but she knew they weren’t moving. For some reason, her dad liked it here. He even went to church. Eisa went too. She hated it, and Sunday Club was cringe worthy at times, but she did it to make her dad happy – he was catholic, apparently. Eisa didn’t really understand when she was younger, due to being raised to pray to the Norns, but she did now, and didn’t know why he hadn’t raised her to know more than just the true significance of Christmas if it was that important to him.

He answered that question for her later.

“Your mom raised you, and I am your dad, but she has final say. I didn’t want to impose my religion on you, or her, when she clearly doesn’t believe in God – she prays to the Norns, like you, because they are real, and she has actually met them, and they’re powers to be afraid of. I believe in God because I believe in God. I was raised like that, and I’ll go to Church every Friday, Saturday and Sunday.”

“You go on Friday and Saturday?” Eisa’s eyes widened in horror. Her dad smiled sadly, stroking her hair gently.

“Yeah, I do – it’s where I go after I drop you off to ballet on a Friday night, and in the morning on Saturday when you’re at your private karate class.”

“Why would you go though? It’s so long and boring,” Eisa wrinkled her nose.

Her dad laughed, “It was even longer when I was a kid, darlin’.”

Eisa did a lot of clubs now, like Vali did before he went to Hogwarts. She even had the same sort of schedule – she got up early in the morning for swimming with her dad, had two breakfasts, went running, then after school, she had another club before dinner and then time doing her school-work and reading before bed her dad, or ‘coding’. She had more time than Vali did though, probably because her dad had to drive her places rather than Eisa just walking or biking to them like Vali, and because school lasted longer.

Oh, and she learnt how to ride a bike, finally.

She’d known how to skateboard before, and she preferred it, but her skateboard had been stolen when she brought it to school once, and she hadn’t told her dad, just asking for a bike of her own. Eisa could get a padlock for a bike, and anyway, no-one went near the bike rack – there was a security guard right beside it, at the doors to the school, and another one inside at the metal detector.

Eisa didn’t know why they had metal detectors, but she had a twinge in her gut whenever she thought about them, and what airports looked for in customs.

People laughed at her accent, too. Some liked it. Most didn’t though, or they thought it was funny. Some couldn’t understand her – the teachers didn’t understand her. Eisa’s dad was called in less than an hour into school, so they could ask him if she had some form of speech impediment, and why he told them she would transfer into seventh grade when she ‘clearly didn’t have the intelligence’. Her dad had been furious.

Eisa had cried.

The school kept her in seventh grade though, when she did the tests with only minimal difficulty expected for someone with zero knowledge of American culture and history, and the conversion rates for certain quantities. Eisa just didn’t speak in class – at least, not until she was able to properly mimic an American accent. Every time she spoke in it, she felt like she was betraying herself, her country, her nationality. She missed Scotland, she missed Edinburgh, and Glasgow – she missed _home_.

Eisa wanted to go home.

* * *

Vali slashed at the dummy with the sword.

“Elbow up!”

Vali grunted, but did it again, lifting his elbow.

“No, no, too far up – seriously, what does it take to make you do it right?” Hela growled, before coming over and roughly positioning his arm. Vali glared at her, wishing she was her blonde self – her emo look, quite seriously, killed the mood.

“I don’t know, what does it take to make me do it right?” He snapped back. Hela sent him a death glare, but it didn’t phase the werewolf, before he elbowed her in the gut, prompting a sudden fight, that ended up with him on the ground with Hela straddling his waist.

“Anything you want to say, little brother?” Hela viciously scratched his neck, right over the sensitive silver scars of Remus’ tearing bite. Vali hissed, eyes flashing amber before he swung his arm up, augmented strength giving him a brief advantage, letting him hit her shoulder, before he rolled, pinning her tighter than she had him, grasping her wrists and solidly pressing his body down.

“Yes – stop being a bitch, it’s annoying as fuck and I don’t work with asshole instructors. You’re being worse than Snape right now. Either calm the fuck down, get over your problems and train me properly, or leave.”

Hela clenched her jaw, before spitting, “Mother bailed on our little bonding dinner because she was having a fucking panic-attack about Svadilfari.” There was a second of silence, before Vali slowly frowned, confused.

“Who’s Svadilfari?”

“Sleipnir’s father,” Hela said, with less hostility than before. “Did mother not tell you about it?”

“She told me how old she was when she had Sleipnir and Jormungandr – she was a child. She doesn’t think that’s wrong. That’s all I know.”

“Let me up.” Hela ordered, Vali releasing her immediately, the two of them repositioning themselves so they were sitting on the floor opposite each other on the mat. “Mother won’t tell you. I know she won’t, so I’m going to. This does not get discussed ever again, unless mother approaches you about it, or Sleipnir himself.” Hela paused to let that sink in, before her back straightened and she began.

“For Queen Frigga’s five thousandth birthday, Odin commissioned a wall to be built around Asgard. The Builder bet he could finish the wall in a year, and that if he managed it, his prize would be the Lady Freyja. Asgard – the Crown and the Courts – took him up on his bet, with the restriction that no man may help him. He agreed, but requested that his horse, Svadilfari, aid him.” Hela saw Vali’s confusion, and gave him a look that dared him to interrupt as she continued. “No-one thought he’d manage it though, so when he built the wall, with _considerable_ aid from Svadilfari, and looked to finish before the deadline, Asgard sent their beloved Princess to distract the horse – they sent mother.”

Vali looked sick. “Mother is a shapeshifter…”

“Aye, she is.” Hela’s eyes were steely. “Mother was threatened with the most horrible of deaths if she did not go, did not stop the Builder from completing his task before the deadline, and when she did, shapeshifting into a horse, Svadilfari was overcome with lust…you may be able to imagine what went on after that.” Hela went quiet for a few moments, before finishing.

“Mother kept her end of the deal, but for it, she paid a terrible price that is almost worse than the death Asgard had planned for her. She will live with that forever, and will _suffer_ for that Asgard’s choice – she will suffer _forever._ ”


	4. Chapter 4

Albus looked between the two items with guilty eyes. _You have done so many terrible things, Tom, but these horcruxes prove you have walked far past the line._ Sighing, Albus glanced at his cursed hand, knowing it would not be too long before it consumed him – Severus was usually correct in his assumptions, so to know he had a year was both a curse and a blessing. _I must recruit young Prince Vali_.

But then something caught his attention – how all the candles in his office suddenly flared, how a tall blonde woman suddenly appeared in front of his bookcase.

Wand slipping into his hand, Albus stood. “Who are you?”

The woman glanced at him, a flash of surprise gracing her face before it disappeared, and she hummed, walking over to him, eyes travelling from him to the two horcruxes on his desk. She picked the locket up, eyeing the ring distastefully before looking to Fawkes.

“If you would be so kind, I would request that you bring my youngest brother at present, here.” To Albus’ amazement, Fawkes squawked before disappearing in a flash of flame. The tension in the room was high, as the two stood there in silence, before Fawkes returned…

Carrying the one and only, Vali Sigynson.

He immediately raised his wand, wariness, almost soldier-like, exuding from him. But when he caught sight of the woman, he relaxed almost immediately.

“Hela, what am I doing here?”

‘Hela’ pointed to the Gaunt ring. “Take the stone from the band and keep it in your pocket-” and then she switched to another language, one Albus did not recognise. Vali’s face betrayed his surprise, before the wariness returned. But he nodded, turning to his desk and taking the ring from it, using brute force and a small amount of magic to separate the band from the stone.

Albus looked between it and Hela, the reality of the situation all at once dawning on him.

“Death,” Albus murmured, realising he was correct to believe the stone was a Deathly Hallow. He looked to Vali, now the owner of not only one, but two. “Milady, do you trust your brother with these gifts?”

He adjusted his grip on the Elder Wand, holding it from the middle, rather than its handle. Hela eyed him.

“You are a wise man, Headmaster – my mother thinks you are a buffoon, sometimes, but you are wise and knowledgeable, too. Yes, I trust my brother with my Hallows, for I know he will not use them in a way I find distasteful. You have your own wand still?”

“I do,” Albus gave another tired sigh, about to give the wand over – only for it to be pulled from his grip. Almost immediately, he could feel the lack of loyalty from it, and gave a small smile. “Of course.” He sat back down in his chair, opening a drawer and taking his old ash and dragon heart-string wand, smile becoming fond at feeling the ancient warmth from within it. “May I query you on something, milady, before I begin a conversation with you both?”

“Go for it,” the blonde smiled encouragingly. Albus’ eyes sparkled.

“Would you like a sherbet lemon?”

* * *

“The Wizarding World is going to shit,” Blaise threw the newspaper into the fireplace, pacing, running his hands over his head frantically, for once in their friendship, unable to stay calm.

“Calm down, Zabini, we know,” Tracey muttered tiredly, pressing her head into Daphne’s stomach in a failed attempt to block out the world. Daphne started to play with a strand of her hair, and Vali beside her watched, wondering what was going on with them – they’d been acting really weird over the past couple of days, and looking back only served to make Vali realise it had been going on for a few years now. “Val, do you happen to have an awesome plan to put the Wizarding World back on track?”

Vali shrugged, looking to Blaise, “My sister has some plans that we’re putting into practice, but we’ve hit a few snags.”

“Do you need help?” Blaise stopped pacing, pinning Vali with a wide-eyed stare.

“Voldemort entrusted something to Lucius Malfoy. A similar something was found in his blood family’s abandoned home, after he killed the remaining occupants, and another, before it was moved to another location without Voldemort’s knowledge, a cave he visited often when he was young and lost two of his childhood bullies in. We suspect there were another three somethings – where would they be?”

Blaise’s face immediately blanked, eyes going back to normal as he had something to focus on. “He entrusted something to Malfoy Senior, so I suggest looking at another of his followers – inner circle followers, most likely. Locations suggest he places these ‘somethings’ in places where he holds significant memories. Lucius Malfoy has a secret basement full of dark artefacts that very few officially know about. It’s very safe. He would have kept the thing he was entrusted to in there. No doubt the other places had protections – wards, curses.” He zeroed in on Vali. “A checklist of at least two out of three things. Protection, a location of sentimentality, and loyalty.”

“The something is something he treasures, too, or a prize.” Vali muttered, thinking of the ‘Gaunt’ ring, and Slytherin’s locket – and his diary. They had three – or rather four – already dealt with, out of seven.

“What kinds of things?” Daphne questioned, only to get a glare from her friend that had her flinching. “You’ve been practicing…”

“Yeah,” Vali blinked, stopping, “Sorry. Hela wants me to have my death glare down.” He glanced at the silent Tracey. “What’s going on between you two, by the way?”

Daphne raised an eyebrow, “Really, Vali? I knew you could be selectively obtuse, but really…” Vali looked between the three of his friends, confused as Blaise smirked, Tracey grinning into Daphne’s lap as the blonde shook her head.

“Vali, our friends here are gay as fuck for each other,” Blaise said bluntly. Vali’s eyes widened extraordinarily large, looking to his female companions.

“You’re what?”

Tracey hummed, before sitting up and – with Vali watching on, gobsmacked – straddled Daphne’s legs, hands slipping into her hair as their lips connected. Vali watched with horrified fascination, wondering what… _point_ there was to it.

“It’s nice to watch,” Blaise said, sitting down finally in an armchair. Vali watched as Daphne’s hands locked around Tracey’s waist, pulling her closer as one of Tracey’s moved to Daphne’s cheek. “Like it?”

“Not really,” Vali muttered, voice high. “Not at all.”

Tracey pulled away from Daphne, who let out a whimper – a freaking _whimper_ – as Tracey turned her head to look at Vali, eyes hooded and dark.

“You got a problem, princey-o?”

“Not with you, or Daphne, or you and Daphne,” Vali said, shaking his head, “Just- why? You’re putting your mouths together and it’s disgusting and weird and just _why_ would you do it?”

Daphne and Tracey exchanged a look, before Tracey replied, “Because…it’s nice? The contact, it’s…intimate. It makes us feel closer.”

Vali made a face, “It sounds…wet.”

“You’ve never been kissed, have you Val?” Tracey glanced at Daphne, and then they seemed to have some sort of non-verbal conversation that included various head movements towards Vali, eyebrow raising, smirks, and finally a nod from Daphne. Tracey hummed, before getting off of Daphne, looking up to the ceiling of the Room of Requirement – they’d finally got the name of the place off a house-elf from the kitchens, though _they_ preferred Come-and-Go room. “If Vali gets uncomfortable, make sheets appear around us.”

Vali’s brows knitted together, “What?” Tracey came over to him-

And then she was on his lap.

“Okay, Trace, what are you doing?” From beside them, Lucky woofed, causing Daphne to call the dog over as Vali started to slowly panic. “Tracey-”

“Vali, as one of your best friends, it is my duty to make sure you know at least what a kiss is like, before you make any sort of decision, that may or may not include deciding never to kiss anyone like, ever. Even if you decide never to kiss someone, or have sex with anyone, etcetera, etcetera, you should at least try it. So, yeah, I’m going to kiss you – is that okay?”

Vali swallowed, looking at her, wide-eyed, before looking to Daphne. “And this is okay with you?” Daphne shrugged, not replying. He looked back to Tracey, swallowing again. “What do I do?”

“Nothing. Hopefully you’ll get the hang of it if I go slow. Okay? Okay – here we go…” she leant down, pressing her lips against his lightly. Vali stayed silent, tense. Tracey kissed him again, and again, slowly, and Vali felt a kind of…warmth. _Just calm down, this is Tracey, Tracey is my friend, she’s helping me, it doesn’t mean anything…_ Surprisingly, it helped, and Vali figured his friendship metre with Tracey had just risen to a new sort of level, that he didn’t somehow think he’d get with anyone else. Slowly reciprocating, he wondered what it did to Daphne, seeing as even he thought this was sort of nice-

He jolted back, “What was _that?_ ” It had been wet, and completely unfamiliar, and probing and it made him feel more than just _uncomfortable_.

Tracey laughed though, “Tongue. Not your style?” He shook his head violently, feeling sort of…invaded. Tracey ran a hand through his hair, but removed it quickly as it snagged on his hair tie, which held back most of his hair. “That’s okay. Maybe you need to find someone you’re comfortable with, maybe you just don’t like it at all.”

“It was okay, but it didn’t really do anything for me.” He shrugged half-heartedly. Tracey winked, before getting off him and hopping back over to Daphne, settling sideways on her lap, head dropping into her neck.

“Vali?”

“Yeah, Blaise?” The teen looked over to his friend…

Only to find him holding what _looked_ like the diadem of Rowena Ravenclaw.

“He asked the Room for an example of what you were looking for.” Blaise looked up, and it was then that Vali realised his eyes were bright red. “Are you looking for _my_ horcruxes, _boy?_ ”

Vali cussed in several languages, before standing and shouting loud – “ **HELA!** ”

* * *

The smile Charlie gave her when she caught her attention was big and wide.

“Hey! Annabeth! What are you doing in here?” Charlie put down the radio, only narrowly avoiding being hit in the face with a glowing red sword as she skirted around the forge, ducking and coming over to where she stood. The girl’s took each other’s hands, the younger pulling Charlie to the exit, to Charlie’s obvious amusement.

“What’s the matter? You need something? Are your brothers and sisters giving you a hard time?”

Annabeth shook her head, glancing over to the Arts and Crafts Hut. Charlie followed her gaze and immediately narrowed her eyes.

“Are those Aphrodite harpies giving you a rough time? I can do something about that, if they’re being nasty – I’ve got friends in the Aphrodite Cabin.”

But the blonde shook her head again, faster than before, “No, it’s fine. I- it’s just something that Drew Tanaka said.” Charlie scowled.

“Drew’s a bitch-”

“Language!” Annabeth hit her on the wrist lightly, causing Charlie to roll her eyes before squeezing Annabeth’s hands.

“Drew is a jerk. Don’t believe anything she says-”

“She said you were a dyke,” Annabeth blurted out, before her eyes went wide. Charlie’s expression hardened.

“As I said,” she repeated coldly, “Drew’s a bitch.”

“Is it true?”

Charlie eyed the daughter of Athena, “Yeah, it is. Got a problem with that, pipsqueak?” Annabeth shook her head, inwardly wondering if that was why Drew always looked at Charlie funny, before Charlie brought her in for a hug. “Don’t you worry about me – now, don’t you have Arts and Crafts?”

“It’s Ancient Greek now,” Annabeth whispered, causing Charlie to smile and give her a light squeeze, before pushing her away.

“Then you’d better get to Ancient Greek, or Chiron’ll have your hide, Chase.” Annabeth flushed, then waved, turning around and running off towards the Big House. Charlie watched her leave, soon turning back to the Forge as one of her siblings called.

 _Tanaka, you don’t know what you’re getting into_ , Charlie smirked as she looked at the radio she’d been modifying. _Revenge will be **sweet**._

* * *

_Dear Vali,_

_I haven’t heard from you for a while. How is Hogwarts? Hela says you have regular contact, and that your quest is most likely going to come to an end by the end of the year, depending on a few variables. Eisa is sending emails to me, with her letters to you which I have printed onto the printer paper within this letter. I’ve gained my Biology Mastery, and have started work on no less than three others, as well as my PhD. Soon I’ll be known as ‘Doctor Friggadottr’, though I have since been thinking of legally changing my last name._

_Your uncle has supported this idea, wishing to actually have an identity on Midguard – I only previously made Thor’s identity. Things are complicated, but I will hopefully be able to get it done before technology completely dominates the modern world. Your uncle, of course, does not want to be called ‘Friggadottr’, when he is quite obviously male._

_Hopefully I shall hear from you soon, my precious one._

_All the love I can give,_

_Mother_

* * *

Loki watched Natasha as she rested against the agent. The Goddess could recognise him easily, and wondered belatedly if introducing Natasha to SHIELD earlier had brought about this change, or it had simply been hidden in the future of her original world. Coulson didn’t seem to mind the contact, smiling at it.

Glancing across the room to their cargo, Loki stifled a laugh as their hostage’s identity finally revealed itself, the archer groaning and turning on the ground, bloodied face clear for her to see.

“Barton, I should have known,” Loki smiled, happy that ‘STRIKE Team Delta’ were back together, or, rather, were together now. Hopefully they would make as much a good team this time around as they did in her last universe. Walking away, Loki slipped from Prague to James’ home, where he was eating dinner with Eisa. James looked up at her entrance.

“Hey doll,” he nodded to her before serving himself another portion of chicken. Loki mentally checked her calendar, _Sunday roast._ It’d been a while since she’d had one of those.

Eisa turned her head, face lighting up. “Mom!” Loki’s eyebrows flew up at the accent, while Eisa flung off her cannula, got up out of her chair and flung herself into Loki’s arms. “It’s been so long since I’ve seen you!” She looked up, chin wobbling slightly. Loki’s face smoothed out, concern draping her as she pulled Eisa up, disregarding how children her age shouldn’t exactly be picked up by their parents. _How old is she now? Eight?_

“It has been a while, hasn’t it?”

“Yeah,” Eisa burrowed her head in Loki’s shoulder, Loki gripping her tightly as her eyes slid shut. “Everything’s so different here. They don’t have Double-Deckers, or Twirls.”

“Oh _no_ ,” Loki murmured, “Double-Deckers are your favourite.”

“Not any more, actually – I like Red Vines. They’re weird and chewy and aren’t like the sweets we have at home.”

“Really?” Eisa nodded her head, before falling silent, just hugging her. Loki welcomed it, until she saw how Eisa had barely started on her dinner. Walking over, she set her down beside her chair and fixing her cannula back into her nose. “You should eat.” Eisa glanced at her plate, before sitting down, starting on it. James waved his fork at the dishes in front of them.

“You want something, Lokes?”

Loki felt a pang in her chest, a tight smile appearing on her face, “No, thank-you for offering though. I was just popping in – I saw our little spider. She’s made a new friend.”

James slowed, “Natalia…she’s okay, then?”

“Yes.” Loki nodded, before leaning down to kiss Eisa’s cheek. “I will come visit more often. Farewell for now, _qiānjīn_.”

“Bye mommy.”

Loki straightened, before disappearing, reappearing in Elizabeth’s apartment. “El, are you in?” Poking her head into Bran’s room, she saw him playing with some Lego. “Bran? Is you mum in?”

Bran looked up, smiling upon seeing her, “Hey Aunty L – mum’s out with a _friend_ of hers right now.”

Loki stopped.

“A… _friend?_ As in a _friend_ , or as in a…‘ _friend?’_ ”

Bran’s face twisted, “A ‘ _friend’._ ”

“Ah…are they planning on coming back together?”

“Probably not.”

Loki nodded concisely, mind running wild. Why hadn’t Elizabeth told her she was dating again? “Right. I’m going to make myself some tea – would you like one, Bran?”

“Yes please.”

Nodding again, Loki went to the kitchen, filling the kettle with water and flipping it on before grabbing two mugs, teabags and the green milk. Taking out her clunky flip-phone, Loki sent a text to the lab technician at her university, asking them to prepare a list of things for her lab-work later that day. Thankfully, they replied before the kettle finished boiling, with an affirmative. Making up her tea, Loki sipped it slowly, eyes wandering over Elizabeth’s kitchen – as usual, it was a little cluttered, the sink full of dishes and letters and papers stuffed into corners and on top of the microwave.

Feeling a tickling in the back of her brain, Loki shut her eyes, holding out her hand with her palm up, letting her magic guide itself across the room, to a loose sheaf of paper on top of the fridge. Snapping her fingers, the papers sorted themselves out, but not before one could slip out of the pile, floating side to side before finally shooting down to the floor, skidding to a stop at Loki’s feet. Opening her eyes, Loki bent down slowly, careful of her tea, picking it up – _it_ being a letter of mild importance.

With _zero_ emphasis on the _mild_.

“SWORD…now why would SHIELD’s little hanger-on agency be contacting you, Elizabeth, several years after Brian’s death?” She eyed the return address, memorising it, before reading past the _Dear Lady Elizabeth Braddock_. “‘It has come to our attention that you have recently made certain decisions, legal and otherwise, pertaining to your family’s return to Braddock Estate’…estate?” Loki quirked an eyebrow.

“‘The Sentient World Observation and Response Department would advise against the course of action that would involve young Lord Braddock returning to Braddock Manor and eventually taking over his rightful duty as Green Knight, known more commonly as Captain Britain, when the late Lord Brian Braddock Senior and his son, the late Lord Brian Braddock the Younger agreed to allow the Sentient World Observation and Response Department jurisdiction in the United Kingdom’s of Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and of Her other Realms and Territories’…well that’s not quite correct.” Loki muttered with a slight frown, in reference to Queen Elizabeth II’s title.

But this – this letter, it was interesting. Loki hadn’t known Elizabeth was a Lady, nor that Brian or Bran were Lord’s, let alone protectors of Britain…

_Perhaps I should be more careful around the one I call ‘friend’ after all._

* * *

“So…is that all you needed, or am I going to get another letter from Charlie saying one of his ‘friends’ needs a favour?” Bill raised an eyebrow. Fenrir, who had been carefully shutting the warded suitcase containing the item Hela needed to help Vali on his little vanquishing, shook his head.

“Hopefully, we shall never meet again under these circumstances. These are dark times for your people, that will end soon. If we do see each other before that moment, then I fear for my sister’s mental wellbeing.” Fenrir straightened, holding out a hand, which Bill shook confusedly. “Has…Charlie, told you the nature of our friendship?” Fenrir asked after a moment.

Bill shook his head, “He didn’t say much – just that I should trust you. He _also_ said you had a message for me, from a family member of yours.” His brow furrowed, before Fenrir nodded belatedly, letting go of his hand to pat his pocket, summoning the slip of parchment Hela had given him. Handing it over, Fenrir watched as Bill Weasley read the scripture, raising an eyebrow.

“May I know what they said?” Fenrir questioned, prompting Bill to glance up at him with a wry smile on his face.

“Your sister says she has Seer blood – that true?” Fenrir shrugged, knowing in all technicalities, it was true, but that if she was telling this wizard something, it would be through her little connection to the Norns. Bill nodded, looking down at the piece of parchment again, before handing it back to him. Fenrir looked.

_Bill Weasley. If this message reaches your hands, then my brother has claimed what was once my forbearers. I will not disclose my name, though if Charlie is right about you, you have already figured out some things of importance, which I would ask you not to discuss with anyone lightly nor in good humour. Seers blood runs through my veins, so trust me – I’ll know. But I will run out of room on this scrap of paper soon. Some last advice before I do, would be to write to one Fleur Delacour – she is French, wishing to work somewhere in Britain to improve her English. She is highly qualified, and Gringotts would enjoy her as an employee. Also, she will like your earring. Good luck in your endeavours. –HRH, Queen of the Mist-World_

“You’re the actual Fenrir. Your sister, the writer – the Mist-World is Niflheim, according the Old Texts, which would make her Queen Hel.”

Fenrir folded the piece of paper in half, handing it back over to it’s original recipient.

“She was given the name ‘Hela’, when she was born,” Fenrir replied quietly. “But as she wrote to you, please do not talk of these matters lightly, to anyone, not even us.”

Bill clenched his jaw, “Charlie. If nothing, tell me what he’s gotten himself into with you all.”

Fenrir eyed him. _He is thinking of his brother. There’s nothing wrong in worrying_ … “As Harry Potter is Vali, Charles Weasley is Narfi – the only difference is that Charlie prefers his new name to his old. As you are his brother, so am I.” Bill swallowed audibly, fist clenching around the note, but stayed silent.

Fenrir decided it was time to leave, and turned around, walking towards the nearest patch of shadows, walking through them without nary a whisper more from Bill Weasley.

* * *

“So we have a diary, a family heirloom and two Founders objects,” Daphne listed out loud as Tracey etched a rune from a book into the ground, as per Hela’s direction. Blaise grunted an affirmative, keeping far, _far_ away from their little pile of horcruxes. “The first was hidden with one of the Inner Circle of Death Eaters, the second in an abandoned shack that once belonged to his bloodline, the third in a cave from his childhood, and the fourth in Hogwarts itself.”

“He seems to follow familiar themes,” Hela observed, placing an emerald scarab inside a chalk-drawn triangle surrounded by runes, tucking a dark strand of hair behind her hair. “Family. Blood. Himself. Prestige. Memories. He is a sentimental, arrogant man, who believes himself to be descended from a Founder of Hogwarts. Professor Dumbledore believes that another of his horcruxes could be Hufflepuff’s cup – I believe he would be correct in that assumption.” Hela stood, peering at the large formation that she and Tracey, together, had drawn. “We are nearly finished. Get a move on, Davis.”

Tracey glanced up at her, “I’m nearly done. What are we even summoning?”

“We’re not summoning anything,” Vali replied for her, causing Daphne to frown deeply, stepping closer, eyes flickering over the chalk drawings. “I know how it looks-”

“Vali, this _will_ open a portal,” Daphne looked between him and his sister. “Do you even know what it is you’re _doing?_ ” A growl came from the shadows. She looked over at Fenrir, who until now had been quiet. “Oh, don’t just _growl_ at me – I’m involved now, and I want to know what the hell you are trying to do, when it involves opening portals to the Underworld.”

“Daph-” Vali tried to appeal to her, but Daphne shot him a glare, looking to Tracey.

“Stop drawing, Trace, until they tell us what the fuck is going on.” Loyal to her partner, the brunette stopped, sitting back, being careful not to smudge any of the runes she’d spent the last few weeks working on with the Queen of Niflheim.

Hela looked to Vali, “Control your friends.” Vali wilted slightly under her gaze, flinching, before nodding as she stalked over to Fenrir, grabbing his wrist tight enough that they could hear bones cracking, before they disappeared. Daphne looked to Vali.

“She’s a bit testy today,” he muttered, before taking a deep breath. “We aren’t summoning anything. We’re actually putting the diadem horcrux in the Underworld.”

“Why?” Daphne questioned, “Why can’t we just destroy it and have done with it?”

“Because we need access to it. Hela can summon the diadem – she’s already put her Mark on it and all the others – but the soul piece it’s holding, once it’s in the Underworld, it’ll be out of her purview, and we need it. We need to…store the horcrux.”

“But it needs to be destroyed,” Blaise muttered, glaring at it, from where it sat inside the runes. “What if it gets out?”

“It won’t. You need to trust me, guys,” Vali looked between his friends, the tension thick. “ _Please_ , I promise it’ll all be fixed in the end.”

“Voldemort needs to be stopped, Val,” Tracey said quietly, “How long do we have to wait? He’s already killed so many people – Amelia Bones, Igor Karkaroff, Emmeline Vance, hell, even Florean Fortescue. He made _ice-cream_ , Vali. And there’s whispers that he had a Department of Mysteries worker assassinated. They think it’s connected to the break-in during the summer.”

Vali paused, “Break-in?” His friends exchanged a look.

“Didn’t you hear?” Daphne questioned, “It was all over the news – the Death Eaters broke into the Department of Mysteries and completely trashed the place, covering up for what they stole.”

“I was in New York,” Vali’s thoughts flew to his belongings, travelling to the secret compartment hidden just inside the extension charm for his cauldron, where an hourglass on a golden chain was tucked away, out of sight and out of mind until just then. _It’s probably one of the last ones,_ he realised after a beat. _Time-turners come from the Department of mysteries…_ “Blaise? What do you think he took?”

“I don’t know, and I don’t care to share at present.” Blaise muttered, before Hela reappeared – her dark façade gone, blonde sunshine radiating throughout the room as she approached Daphne, taking her shoulders.

“Are you done?”

Daphne didn’t reply verbally, only nodding stiffly. Hela smiled brightly, before looking to Tracey, wiggling her fingers. From her hand, the chalk flew up and then down scribbling the last set of runes down on the ground with seemingly no writer, causing Tracey to scramble back as it finished and then subsequently glowed.

“Hela!” Vali exclaimed, “Give us a bit of warning!”

Hela shrugged, waving him off. “Sorry, brother-mine, but Fenrir and I are now on a bit of a schedule.”

She approached the glowing rune-circle, crouching down and placing her hands in the outlines specifically made for her, eyes immediately glowing an ominous dark green, her hair running brown from the roots to the tips. Her clothes shimmered, the jeans, shirt and brown leather jacket of before being replaced with a black dress that looked like oil on water, white myrtle flowering at her waist and behind her ear. The humans in the room all gathered together, stepping back out of the way as the floor around the runes cracked and rumbled.

Only Fenrir and Hela were still, the horcruxes – both former and present – suddenly disappeared out of existence, dropping into the floor as it turned to dark shadow, a faint red light splashing across Hela’s face before she sagged and Fenrir grabbed her, pull her away from the runes before she could smudge or ruin them, and potentially cause the Underworld to eat away at the mortal plane.

Blaise looked between Hela, the empty rune circle, his watch and Vali.

“…well that was a little anticlimactic.”

Vali glanced at him, “No kidding, but it looks like my sister won’t be going anywhere anytime s-” they watched as Fenrir helped her to her feet, before pulling her into a cradle and disappearing into the shadows “…soon.”

Daphne brought her hand up to wind in Tracey’s ponytail. “Anticlimactic, indeed.”

* * *

“That was a dangerous thing you just did, niece,” Loki murmured, running his hand over her head as Fenrir flipped through the catalogue Hades had handed him. “Why go through all the trouble?”

“Had to be done like that, or Misses Greengrass and Davis will go down a separate path from Vali,” Hela murmured, hand going to the almost invisible imprint on the inside of her wrist. “Urd and Verdandi told me I would face problems if I tried anything, but the problem with Urd and Verdandi is that they always think in one direction – and they don’t communicate with Skuld well, unlike their Greek counterparts.”

“The Norns are a precocious triad, I shall give you that,” Loki murmured, “So you used a Norse method to enter a Greek domain. The Norns of past and present did not know what you would do in advance, and the Morai were unable to prevent you from doing what you wished due to the conflict of interest. Clever.” Hela gave a tired, toothy grin, eyes closed as Hades sauntered over, wine in hand.

“You look like Persephone, but without the tan. And not Greek.” Hades sipped his wine, before offering to Loki. The God eyed it, before taking it lightly and trying, grimacing a second later. “It’s strange to think that she’s your daughter.”

Loki shrugged, handing the glass back and glancing at Fenrir, who was looking through the… _Hephaestus Inventions-Aphrodite Glitz_ magazine with gusto.

“This is coming from a deity who can change his image at will,” Loki replied, running a hand through Hela’s hair again, getting a contented sigh out of the Goddess. Hades shrugged back at him.

“But I still always look like myself, or rather, my parents. There are many distinctive traits in our family.”

“I am aware,” Loki glanced over at the objects Hela had sacrificed so much energy and magic to transport here. They reeked of death in a way that the Underworld did not – maliciously, evilly. And especially did that tiara. “Hela trusts you, why?”

“I’m right here, you know.”

“Sleep and shush, niece.”

Hades chuckled at their banter, “Hela and I are good friends. Her predecessor has taken over her old post in that other universe, and he was a misery-loving bastard. The past few hundred years have been a relief from his dour countenance – not that I saw him a lot, anyway, but he had a sort of annoying kind of presence when he goes into a room that doesn’t fade for decades.”

“I know the feeling,” Loki murmured, thinking of how he’d felt when his father had entered his quarters for the very first time only a few centuries ago – he still hadn’t shaken off the feeling of his privacy being intruded upon. “Fenrir?”

“Yes, uncle?” Fenrir replied distractedly.

“How long do you estimate it will take for your sister to recuperate correctly?”

“A couple of hours, not long.”

Hades put his wine down on a nearby table, clapping his hands together, “It seems you have the perfect excuse then to stay for a short while – would you like a tour, perhaps? A visit to Persephone’s gardens?”

Loki smiled at the lonely man – “It would be our pleasure, Lord Hades.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, there are TWO DIFFERENT CHARLIE'S IN THIS CHAPTER. One is female, though this is fanfic and so I'm genderbending them, 'k? If you're a Riordan fan you'll understand who this other Charlie might be. My rule is, as long as it benefits the plot, which this will, in due time, then do it.


	5. Chapter 5

“ _O Captain, my Captain – rise up and hear the bells; rise up – for you the flag is flung – for you the bugle trills. For you bouquets and ribbon’d wreaths – for you the shores a-crowding; for you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning…_ even you might have known that poem, Captain Rogers.” Loki tipped her head sideways, opening her eyes before looking to her phone, memorising the coordinates, then switching it off. “It’s part of the second stanza to a poem written by Walt Whitman. American – died in eighteen ninety-two, around, oh…thirty years before you were born?”

The Goddess stood, glancing along the flat, wind whipping snow through her head. Underneath was a giant craft, in which Steve Rogers laid, frozen. She didn’t want to change the future too unnecessarily by somehow reviving the Captain without SHIELD’s knowledge. Clint Barton had been informative, but not that informative. Loki couldn’t replicate the future – but she could nudge it along. She had already changed the fate of the Realms by befriending her counterpart, and most likely forever altering the future where he would fall into Thanos’ grasp…but the Avengers, that was something she knew – _knew_ , could not be changed.

And if James was going to mope around in suburban America with Loki’s daughter, he might as well do it with his one true partner.

* * *

Tony smirked at the bartender, leaning forward, “So when do you get off?” The man rolled his eyes, before looking to Tony’s right.

“Can I get you anything, ma’am?”

Tony looked, whistling lowly as he took in the long black dress, the slit showing the long expanse of pale leg that he could just _imagine_ running a hand over, up to the waist and-

“Howard Stark was looking for Captain America.”

Tony’s eyes snapped from her legs to her face, meeting dark emerald eyes as he straightened, fingers tightening around the crystal tumbler in his grip.

“That was top secret.” His father’s attempts to find Steve Rogers weren’t publicised, to Tony’s knowledge, and not just _anyone_ knew about it, past official channels – and those official-types didn’t exactly come up to him on a regular basis to talk about top-secret shit. So the question was either, what kind of trouble is this woman in, or how did this woman know? He settled on: “Who are you?”

She ignored his question, looking to the bartender. “Do you perchance have any meads?” The bartender shook his head, the woman sighing tiredly. “White wine, top shelf – _don’t_ give me any top-ups, or anything else tonight. I’m too…agitated, to deal with the sensations of drunkenness, however mild…not, not agitated.” She frowned, watching the bartender with a kind of focus that Tony didn’t quite understand – he could see her eyes, and they weren’t moving. _But that doesn’t make sense. Eyes move constantly, we have no choice in it._

He cleared his throat, shaking it off as he tried again. “Who are you, lady?”

“No-one of importance,” the woman took a pencil from behind her ear, prompting Tony to look her over, ignoring her more comely assets as she wrote on a notepad. _She’s got knives all over_ , Tony realised, feeling as if a bucket of cold water had been thrown over his head. How had the club bouncers not noticed? She had _dozens_ , and four of them were tucked into the straps of her heels – the largest one on her person was in her _hair_ , for fucks sake, inside the long Dutch braid her black hair tied tightly around. “Coordinates.” She held out the notepad.

Tony looked between it and her, wondering if this was some sort of convoluted assassination plot.

“Lady, I need a name before I’m taking _anything_ from you – and in any case, I don’t like being handed things.”

The woman looked at him with zero amusement, before she raised the notepad high, placing it on his head. Tony didn’t move as she figured out how to balance it properly, before slapping a hand away from her wineglass, turning into a kind of ninja as she completely _pulverised_ the dude about to drop something into her drink.

Tony took the notepad off his head and read, mind calculating where the coordinates lead as the woman glared at the pansy of a man, while loudly proclaiming if he wanted to sleep with someone, that he should use better methods than date-rape drugs. As the man was taken away to a side-room by the bouncers, in wait of the police, the woman sat back down, sipping the new glass of wine the bartender had poured, putting her old one off to the side in case it had anything else in it.

“So?”

“Why there? It’s all snow and ice.”

“Yes.”

It took a moment for Tony to remember what had originally attracted his attention to this fine-looking lady, other than the _multitude of knives hidden on her body_.

“…you _found him?_ ”

The woman shrugged, and something in his brain clicked. He raised a hand, pointing at her.

“I’ve seen you before.”

“Yes.”

“You didn’t want to sleep with me.”

“Yes.”

“Do you want to sleep with me _now?_ ”

“Definitely not.”

“…then other than Captain of the grand, ol’ US of A, why are we speaking?”

“Because I want your contact information, for future reference. Also, I need to inform you of certain things.”

“Like what?”

“Like how the Winter Soldier was the one to assassinate your parents, yet he was brainwashed by Hydra long before he did so.” Tony spluttered into his bourbon. “Said Winter Soldier was and now is again, James Buchanan Barnes, Steve Rogers best friend and, may I also add, love-interest. I reversed his programming, and discovered some things along the way, such as the fact that Mr Barnes was very much in love with Mr Rogers, yet knew better than to act on these interests…very often, in that time-period.”

“Okay, slow down now,” Tony put up a hand, draining his tumbler and summoning the bartender. “Give me the bottle, things just got interesting.”

And by ‘interesting’, he meant _pretty fucking interesting_.

Tony looked the bombshell of a woman in the eye.

“Tell me everything.”

The woman smiled a cat-like smile, sipped her wine and continued.

* * *

“You’re a life-saver, Uncle Remus, quite literally…” Vali stared at the Cup, watching as Hela circled it as if she were a predator and it was her prey. Remus frowned lightly.

“It cost a lot of favours – a _lot_. Goblins are fickle creatures, and they don’t take breaches of trust lightly. The Lestrange’s will have been informed immediately after I left the grounds of Gringotts. I will _never_ be allowed back in there, Harry.”

“His name isn’t _Harry_ ,” Fenrir growled, only to step away hastily as Remus growled right back, eyes golden.

“He was named Harry James Potter on the first of August of the year nineteen eighty, _right in front of me_. I don’t know who you are, but by Morgana, if you interrupt me again, pup, you will be _very._ _Sorely_. _Sorry_.” Vali’s eyes flickered between the two wolves, swallowing as Fenrir let out a low keen of surrender, before he looked right to Remus again, who switched from Fenrir to Vali without much warning, causing Vali to jump too. “Now you will tell me why that Cup is alive enough that I am hearing a constant _scream_ in my ears, and what you plan to do with it.”

“Remus John Lupin,” Hela stopped in front of him, humming before reaching up to take his face with two hands. “Here is what would have happened if my mother had never stepped foot on this planet.” Remus froze, golden eyes flashing, images travelling across them like a movie.

Vali swallowed again.

“What are you doing, Hela?”

“Don’t worry, brother-mine, it won’t harm him…” Hela murmured, the same images flashing across her eyes. “He might even get a family out of the deal.”

“Be careful, Hela,” Fenrir muttered, leaning from foot to foot agitatedly. “He’s an alpha, if something goes wrong-” Remus staggered back, hand going to his head.

“ _Merlin_.” He looked up, wide-eyed. “ _Teddy…_ ”

Hela gave him a pitying look, “He won’t be born in this universe, unless you work _real_ fast there, were-wizard. But you can still have all of that, and after all, the gnomes in Switzerland can still look after your money.”

“I don’t have much money in the first place…” he said heavily, before straightening and glancing at the Cup before looking away. “I’m…going to hole up in my office. You-Know-Who will no doubt try to find me, soon, to find the location of that…thing.” He looked to the Cup one more time, with a kind of amused weariness. “That dragon will never get free now…”

“Oh, it will, don’t worry – I have it covered,” Hela patted his wrist, before humming. “But can I do something, before you go?”

Remus eyed her, “What?”

Hela smirked, “Oh, nothing much.” Then she went forwards and took his face again, only this time, she leant up and up until their lips connected. Vali stared in horror.

“Hela! That- that’s my uncle! Stop it! Hela-”

Hela pulled away with dark eyes. “I knew it. You’re Roman to the core. Write to Romulus, Remus Lupin, and Lupa too – reincarnation is a capricious business.”

“Romulus?” Remus’ brows pulled together, rubbing his head again. “What did you do?” Immediately Hela’s smirk dropped as she growled, clearly frustrated.

“Dammit, it _never_ works right. Sorry.” She put a hand up to his head again quickly, and he let out a relieved sigh, before stepping out of range of her arms.

“What never works right?” Vali asked, uncomfortable.

Hela waved him off, “Nothing you need to worry about. I’m still learning how to do it properly, haven’t even completed it once – _once_. It’s upsetting, actually.” She flicked her finger, the Cup rising up into the air. “Now, let’s use _this_ to summon us half a soul.”

* * *

It took power and a hell of a lot of magic, but finally – _finally_ , Vali and Hela reunited all of Voldemort’s soul inside one runic diagram, and then, piece by piece, soul shard by soul shard, they sent him to the Underworld.

“ _Horcruxes are the bane of my existence._ ”

* * *

“Congratulations, and well done for all your achievements – it’s a wonder you got all your Masters _and_ your PhD within a year.” Gillespie shook her hand. “I wish you good fortune in your endeavours, Dr Larsen. Happy New Year.”

Loki gave a polite smile to the Dean. “Thank-you, sir. Happy Yule.” The man nodded before she dropped his hand, turning away, smiling at the small hoard of people waiting for her. Picking Eisa up as she ran up to her, Loki laughed, kissing her cheek.

“Congrats, mom.”

“Thank-you, _qiānjīn_ ,” Loki murmured, before replying again and again to James, Sirius, Elizabeth, Bran, her mother, Lord Loki, and the rest of her children, sans Charlie, who was still off in Romania. “We should all head off – Fenrir here tells me that someone booked us a table at that lovely Swedish restaurant.”

“Yes,” Fenrir nodded in agreement, checking his watch, “The reservation is in half an hour.” Loki raised her eyebrow.

“Fenrir, you _are_ aware we are in one of this country’s most highly-populated cities, and that it is both Hogmanay and five o’clock in the evening, yes?” Fenrir quirked an eyebrow.

“Is that bad?”

“No, but I would advise you to invest in learning more on time management,” Loki said delicately, wondering if there were enough taxis around at this time to carry eleven people to where they were going. She was unsure about magical transport when it came to so many people and central Glasgow, the risks outweighing the benefits in this case. “James, would you, Orion, my brother, Fenrir and…Hela, wish to walk?”

James raised an eyebrow, glancing around at the named fellows before shrugging, muttering, “Two shapeshifters and three super-speedy types, got it. You up for it?” He questioned the others, who each gave their own form of agreement. “Right, we’ll head off then. See you soon.” The five slipped away, leaving them behind. Frigga raised an eyebrow.

“And where does that leave us?”

Loki gave a bland smile. “Public transport. Just follow my lead, mother.” The group left the room, Loki waving a silent goodbye to her professor, the only guest at the ceremony other than those she had invited, and the Dean, her professor waving back and watching them leave the private ceremony with quiet amazement.

Once outside, Loki got a single taxi sorted out for them, placing Vali in the front, and sitting with Eisa, Bran, her mother and Elizabeth in the back. Within twenty minutes, they were at the restaurant, waiting outside for the five who hadn’t taken a vehicle – as it was, the taxi metre was still running, as Loki was a little short on cash, even with Elizabeth’s contributions. When they arrived a couple of minutes afterwards, it was Fenrir who forked out the extra fourteen pounds.

“Okay, inside then,” Loki directed, standing at the head of the pack with Fenrir, greeting the receptionist. “Reservation for the…” she glanced to Fenrir.

“Larsen-Clark-Braddock family.”

“…Larsen-Clark-Braddock family.” Loki eyed Fenrir oddly, before figuring that the ‘Clark’ part was an identity of his and/or Hela’s. She looked back to the receptionist, who was flipping through a book before nodding.

“Table sixteen, for a dozen?”

“Yes,” Fenrir nodded, before asking tiredly, “By any chance has the Clark part of that reservation already arrived?”

The receptionist smiled flatly, “Yes, sir. He’s at the bar.”

“Of course,” Hela muttered, before pushing past, hopping ahead into the restaurant as a waitress came over to guide them to their table. Loki kept an eye on Hela though, watching her progress through the establishment to the bar, before she reached a rather…unappealing man, placing a hand on his shoulder. He glanced up at her, but even with her hearing, the ruckus from surrounding tables combined was too much for Loki to pinpoint their deliberately quiet conversation.

“Your table.”

“Thank-you,” Elizabeth gave a nod to the waitress, before sitting down, tugging Sirius to sit beside her- Loki did a double-take, staring at their entwined fingers.

“When did that happen?” She asked starkly, before Lord Loki helped both her and their mother into chairs, side-by-side. Elizabeth flushed slightly, but Sirius smirked proudly, and Loki had a fleeting wish to mess with the glamour hiding his convict’s face from the public, before James snorted, attracting her attention.

“They’ve been together for over a year, doll.”

“No…” Loki looked between her friends, disbelieving. “But- but…”

“Oh, that _is_ a nice look, Lokes,” Sirius grinned, looking to Vali. “Speechless. I love it.” Vali’s lips twitched, before Hela sat down beside Eisa, and the strange man from the bar plopped down opposite Loki, beside Fenrir, who sat at the end of the table.

“…hey.” He stared at her, eyes drifting to her dress, which, while a plain black with long sleeves and not actually very fancy at all, looked like a ball-gown in comparison to the man’s thick fleece jumper riddled with holes, and washed-out jeans. Loki looked to Fenrir, wondering who he was and why he was sitting with them.

Fenrir coughed awkwardly, “Mother, this is…Jormungandr.” There was silence across the table, and for a short while it didn’t process in Loki’s mind. _Jormungandr…_

Loki’s eyes snapped back to meet her oldest son’s, wide and terrified. Jormungandr licked his lips, tongue flicking out as if he were tasting the air, shoulders shaking slightly. Without thinking, Loki cast a warming charm, all at once remembering how much his snake-form affected him. _He was always freezing._

“Thanks,” he muttered, after going still for a second, picking up a beer that was on his coaster, downing it in one. “Fen, can I go now?”

“Please don’t,” Loki whispered, voice high as she swallowed, heart racing fast and her limbs radiating a chill that fogged up the waiting wine glasses around them. She glanced at them, grimacing before reigning herself in, breathing in and out, taking her mother’s hand as it was offered. “Thank-you…”

“I’ve met you before!” Vali suddenly exclaimed, causing everyone to look at him as he pointed to Jormungandr. “You taught me how to skateboard!”

Jormungandr nodded, “Yeah. I did…why’ve you got that excited look on your face?” Vali’s face changed to an expression that clearly said, ‘are you kidding me?’

“Mango… _Jormungandr_ , it may have slipped your notice, but I’m your _brother_. That’s kind of important.” Jormungandr stared at him.

“Why? We don’t know each other, we’ve spent barely a couple of hours together. Just because I’m your brother doesn’t immediately make us family.”

“Jormungandr!” Fenrir and Hela hissed at the same time, Hela going as far as to throw a napkin at him. He shrugged, sipping his beer and looking up as a waiter approached.

“Hey, dude, can we get the drinks menus? And can I get basket of crispbread, and three räkmacka, before you serve us our main meal?”

“Yes, sir, though our räkmacka is large and known to be very filling-”

“I said I wanted three, and I’ll have three, thanks – but just to piss you off, make that four. _Mina syskon_ haven’t had proper räkmacka before, I don’t think. Oh, and hold the garnish and sliced shit on top for mine.” Jormungandr ordered, to the utter embarrassment of the entire table.

The waiter himself seemed pretty offended, actually.

Fenrir tried to save the day, “I’m so sorry for my brother. I’d say he has a problem, but he’s just an asshole. Really, our most sincere apologies – we don’t take him out much because of this.” The waiter pressed his lips together.

“Would you still like me to bring the things he ordered, sir?”

Loki interrupted what Fenrir was about to say, voice cold, “I’d prefer for him not to have anything at all, but as this is _my_ celebratory dinner, I suppose I can be lenient.” She met Jormungandr’s eyes. “He will have a half-portion of räkmacka, to be served preferably before our main courses and appetisers are delivered. Because of his rude behaviour, please, don’t skim on _anything_ you provide with it.” She looked to the waiter, becoming honey-sweet. “But he had a good idea with the crispbread. Please, two baskets, for the entire table. I understand you’re quite busy tonight, it being New Years and all. Oh – and jugs of water, for the table as well, plus whatever drinks they might order.”

The waiter nodded after a second, jotting it all down on a pad while Jormungandr scowled at Loki. “…I’ll just get the drinks menus for you all.” He left, and Loki turned her gaze back on Jormungandr.

“ _Obviously_ ,” Loki sneered, “you have forgotten your manners tonight, _son_.”

“Well, _mother_ ,” Jormungandr muttered poisonously, “ _you would know_. You forget that I lasted a bit longer than most of my siblings, in Asgard. What do the mortals call it now? They have a poem and everything-”

“Lokasenna,” James interrupted icily, “We’ve never met.” Jormungandr eyed him warily.

“You’re that James dude? Mother’s little pet?”

“He was never my pet,” Loki interjected viciously, “A friend, partner. I was quite serious when I said that this was _my_ celebratory dinner, and I will not blink before banishing you from this place, Jormungandr Angrbodason, if you do not _behave_.” There was a tense silence, before Jormungandr nodded stiffly, the waiter returning.

“Your drinks menus.”

Jormungandr puffed a bit of air from his mouth, taking the menus and handing them out before turning to the waiter, a charming but half-hearted smile on his face. “Thank-you for the menus. And sorry. I was rude. I promise to give a big apology-tip just for you…” he twisted his head, eyeing the nametag, “…Keith.”

Keith pursed his lips, before nodding, walking away. Jormungandr looked to Loki.

“Happy?”

Loki’s eyes were glaciers. “ _Very_. Please remember that, in all technicalities, you are a Crown Prince of Asgard, so do, _please_ …act like it.” Jormungandr blinked slowly.

“I’m the _what_ now?”

Loki’s smile was shark-like and dangerous as she took her napkin, spreading it across her lap and opening her drinks menu.

“You’ll figure it out.” She hummed, running a finger down the wine-list. “Oh, mother, you would enjoy the Merlot with dessert – they have an excellent chocolate ganache here.”

-

It was near the end of their main meal that cameras flashed at the entrance of the building, and a familiar figure strode into the restaurant, right up to their table.

“Hey, Dr Larson, nice family you’ve got here.”

Loki eyed Tony with minute distain. “Mr Stark, what do you want?”

Tony gave a charming smile, grabbing a chair and propping it on the corner of the table between Loki and Fenrir. “It’s New Years Eve! Yule! Hogma-something!”

“Hogmanay,” Loki corrected, with an emotionless smile. “It’s a wonder you made it here tonight. Almost as if you had _planned_ it.”

Tony waved her off. “Aw no, I didn’t plan it – I had to share the news though. You know our little ‘ _endeavour’?_ Well it paid off. Cap’s defrosting right now. He’ll be fine and dandy, singing Amazing Grace at the top of his voice while dressed up in red, white and blue before you know it.” Loki chuckled, before Elizabeth raised an eyebrow.

“‘Cap’?”

“Captain America,” Tony replied offhandedly, before turning back to Loki. “But yeah, Steve-o was exactly where you told me he was. Dad would be _so_ jealous I found him first-” a glass shattered, wine spraying everywhere. Loki gasped, turning to face the culprit, only to freeze on realising that James was staring at them with betrayal.

_Oh dear._

“Did I perhaps, forget to mention something, darling?” Loki murmured as waiters hurried over to clear everything up. James didn’t move, despite being covered in glass and dark red wine. “James-” He stood abruptly, throwing off the napkin on his lap, hurrying off. “James!” Loki struggled to get up, but her mother held her down.

“Loki, let him be. If all you’ve told me of him and his dear Captain is true, then he needs space.” Loki swallowed, not knowing whether to follow her mother’s advice or not. Across the table, Jormungandr laughed a little.

“Fucked up again, mama, haven’t you?”

“Oh _shut up_ ,” she hissed at him, before looking to Tony. “Thank-you for _ruining_ my evening.”

The worst part? The contrite expression on his face looked genuine.

* * *

She found him when the fireworks flew up into the sky and exploded, _Auld Lang Syne_ echoing throughout Glasgow.

But it came without notice – the sudden heaviness around her wrists and ankles, a flicker of dark golden chains and magic far more powerful that Loki had seen before.

She couldn’t help her reaction, even as James spotted her.

Maybe it was her magic, or maybe it was just Loki’s innate cowardice.

But she stepped sideways.

She stepped sideways with no destination in mind, no aim or goal except to escape Odin’s all-seeing eye, _to escape James’ persecution_. She stepped sideways, and sideways, and sideways. Sometimes, she saw glimpses – she’d see Vali on the outskirts of a raging party, surrounded by red and gold and standing beside the Granger girl, a sealed vial of golden liquid slipping into his pocket; she’d see Eisa curled up under the covers of a poorly-produced blanket, sound asleep; she’d see a damningly familiar blonde woman pressing one of her male counterparts up against a wall, trailing hot kisses down his neck; she’d see the Winter Soldier inside his glass and metal coffin, freezing and asleep; she’d see everything and nothing at all.

When Loki finally stopped? She had no idea where she was. But she was surrounded by people – people who backed away and whipped out swords and knives from seemingly nowhere.

And then she looked forward and smiled, for there was she, there was…

“Mother.”

And then Loki collapsed to the ground, knowing that she would be safe from all harm, safe from Odin, no matter what universe he came from, safe from facing James – at least, safe until she awoke again.


End file.
